For Anonymous
by WolfRune20855
Summary: A series of one shots based on requests. Ratings and pairings vary.
1. A Note From The Author

This is a series of Ever After High stories based on requests. The ratings and pairings will vary. I will not write anything about my Notps. I ship DexterxRaven, HunterxAshlynn, and DaringxCerise, but I'm pretty much neutral on everything else.

While I like Raven and Apple as much as the next person, fics requested about other characters are more likely to be finished faster. I enjoy writing about the side characters as well as the multiple friendships that the series has.

There is a list of my OCs at the bottom of this page. I will write about them any time, but I will not write about someone else's OCs. They are their property, and I do not know them well enough to write about them. Please, do not request a fic with someone else's OCs in it.

Feel free to request.

Meg

* * *

Chapter 1: I was wondering if you could write a spoppy fanfic

Chapter 2: On a full moonlit night, Cerise was out unhooded, running with Mr. Badwolf when she knocked into someone, who turned out to be the great Daring Charming...

Chapter 3: Can you do one where Apple, Grimm, and the royals get their wish, Raven follows her destiny. But, it turns out she's so good at playing the villian that she's more evil than her mother and takes over the world. You know what they say be careful what gyou wish for.

Chapter 4: HUNTLYNN PLZ!

Chapter 5: I Won't Say I'm in Love with Raven as Meg and Maddie, Cedar, Darling, and etc as the muses.

Chapter 6: Red was a petite girl as she should be in her story. But this Red was different. She was a fighter. A warrior. She'd rather go fighting than bake pie. She found swords more interesting than baskets. One day, she was out with her bow & arrows when she accidentally shot a wolf. Not just any wolf, but the villain of her story...

Chapter 7: A little something that I wanted to write about the Charmings' mother and her roommate. Inspired by A Semi-Charming Kind of Life.

Chapter 8: Raven, Apple, and a little bit of wicked.

Chapter 9: Duchess and Melody are sneaking out clubbing and Sparrow is their ride. Plus, little bit of SparrowxDuchess. (Probably not what you wanted, but it was what I wrote)

Chapter 10: ALISTAIR AND BUNNY(plus the rest of the wonderland crew)

Chapter 11: Raven's happily ever after with dexter/Please do a Dexter and Raven one shot next! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SPRINKLES ON TOP?/Can you do Dexter and Raven next? I would LOVE that! (And I bet the MANY other Rexter shippers would love it too)/DO ONE ABOUT RAVEN AND DEXTER

Chapter 12: Cupid get a boyfriend but it not dexter because she needs love to/(plus a little bit of) Cupid is talking to her father about Dexter then he starts to get really angry with her saying that she is not allowed to fall in love and that is why she was adopted because he couldn't find love himself(but mostly the first one)

Chapter 13: Cedar becomes a real girl

Chapter 14: How Maddie and Raven became friends.

Chapter 15: What was originally the epilogue to my Darise multi-chapter fanfic, but I decided not to use it. So...married Darise fluff.

Chapter 16: Raven and the Rebels start a band(and I know that you wanted something like Lemonade Mouth, but I'm marching at least two hours a day, so it turned in to 21a marching band AU instead)

Chapter 17: Ginger opens up a bakery

Chapter 18: After Cedar becomes a real girl, she discovers the pros and cons of being human(mostly a Cedar/Oak bonding fic)

Chapter 19: Dexven/Rexter wedding(for all of the people who asked for it(or maybe it was just one person multiple times. Idk.)

Chapter 20: Joy Charming's first day at Ever After High.

Chapter 21: Cedar finds love(or what happens when I watch too much LBD)

Chapter 22: First day of school Roman's point of view(second semester Senior year)

Chapter 23: Oak meets the Pied Piper.

Chapter 24: Chase couldn't get a certain girl off his mind as he battled the White Queen in a game of Un-Chess. However, due to his lack of concentration, he was nearly beheaded. Luckily, a certain White Knight comes to his rescue.

Chapter 25: Grace + Marian + Red + thronecoming = drama

Chapter 26: Could you maybe do another Huntlynn one?(special thanks to my sister who made avocado mousse and it didn't turn out that great)

Chapter 27: You gonna continue this with a part 2? Cause I like the characters./pls conyinue roman x joy

Chapter 28: A little something about Baba Yaga's past.

Chapter 29: For the person who PMed me a while ago asking for a story about the narrators. I don't remember what you asked, so I just wrote about them meeting.

Chapter 30: Next gen stuff with a hint of Joyman.

Chapter 31: Darise

Chapter 32: Part 1 of Happily Ever After. Bad x Red

Chaper 33: Could you please do part 2 of Happily Ever After Bad x Red!? My favourite little stories to read are about red and bad. I have re-read them so many times and would really enjoy and appreciate if you could write this. :)/CAN YOU PLEASE ,PLEASE ,PLEASE,PLEASE DO ONE WHERE LITTLE RED RIDDING HOOD AND THE BIG BAD WOLF GET MARRED OH PLEASE DO THAT ONE/I REQUESTS THE WEDDING OF RED RIDDING HOOD AND BAD WOLF. Part 2 of Happily Ever After. Grace x Dashing (feat. wedding) (P.S. writing in all caps doesn't make me write something faster)

Chapter 34: Holly meets her prince

Chapter 35: Next Gen ft. Scarlet Charming

* * *

Featured OCs

 ** _Past_**

Grace - A princess with an obsession with weapons and fighting. When she was young a fairy gave Grace the gift of gracefulness, hence her name. She had long golden hair and is about five foot ten.

Marian - The first official 'Rebel' that Ever After High had. Marian's destiny was to be rescued like many of the princesses at Ever After. At the age of thirteen, Marian decided that she didn't like her destiny and that she would rather 'write her own'. She took up archery so that the would never be just another damsel. Marian has shoulder length brown hair and is five foot seven.

Red Hood - A rebel, though not an official one. Most people think that Red is just a quiet girl, but this forest loving Hood is so much more. Red is one of the fastest members of the track team. She is five foot two, with dark hair styled in a bob.

Dashing Charming - The eldest of the Charming clan. Dashing is a prince in every aspect of the word. He's handsome, talented, and smart-extremely smart. While he is a prince, Dashing hates sword fighting, choosing to spend his time reading books instead. He is six feet tall with brown hair and grey eyes.

Robin Hood - Dashing's roommate. Robin was originally supposed to be the knight in shining armor for Marian, but when she went 'off script', he had no choice but to follow. Now, Robin has no idea what he's going to do. He is five ten with spiky red hair and green eyes.

Bad Wolf - A rebel, though not an official one. Bad Wolf is the eldest of his little and has the destiny of being the big bad wolf. Despite all of that, Bad is a jokester, but that doesn't mean that he can't be serious when he needs to be. Bad is six foot four with chin length black hair that he wears slicked back and grey eyes.

 ** _Present_**

Oak Wood - The cousin of Cedar Wood and son of Pinocchio's sister. Oak is a free spirit who's passion in life is music. He is six foot two with a clean shaven head, brown eyes, and horrible taste in ties.

Hannah "Shrimpy" Dwarf - The child of one of Snow White's dwarfs, and a waitress/bartender/manager at the Rabbit Hole. Shrimpy is four foot ten with silvery blonde hair and a flirtatious personality.

Horace - The son of Horus, the Egyptian god of war. Horace likes people, though he's fairly new to the human world. Horus is six feet tall with golden skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes.

James Darcy - The son of Elizabeth Bennett and William Darcy, James is not from the world of Ever After. He finds everything about this world where magic is real to be fascinating. James is five foot eleven with "with hazel eyes, brown hair, sideburns, and weirdly sharp cheekbones".

Prince Henry - The grandson of King Midas, Henry has the same curse as his grandfather. Despite the magic in his fingers, Henry is a scientific mind. He is six feet tall with short blonde hair and bright green eyes.

 ** _Future_**

Magnificent "Maggie" Charming - The eldest child of Raven Queen and Dexter Charming, Maggie is charismatic and popular. She is close friends with her cousin, Brick. Maggie is five foot six with raven hair purple eyes, and bad eye sight.

Joy Charming - The second child in the Queen-Charming family, Joy is introverted and smart. She is five foot seven with brown hair and blue eyes like her father.

Gallant "Gal" Charming - The youngest child of Dexter Charming and Raven Queen, Gal happens to be the only one with magic like his mother. Fully grown, Gal is five foot ten with bright purple hair and blue eyes.

Brick Charming - The eldest Child of Cerise Hood and Daring Charming, Brick is as athletic and attractive as both of his parents. His best friend in the world is his slightly younger cousin, Maggie. Brick is six foot two with blonde hair, grey eyes, and wolf ears.

Scarlet Charming- Brick's younger sister who is a year older than Joy.

Lavender Charming - The oldest of Darling Charming's children, Lavender is in the grade in between Joy and Gal. She is five foot five with long blonde hair and blue eyes, like her mother.

Rosemary Charming - The younger sister of Lavender, Rosemary is the grade behind her sister and has a wicked sense of humor. She spends a good amount of time with her cousin, Gal, playing pranks on other students. Fully grown, Rosemary is five foot seven with short black hair streaked red and blue eyes.

Romance "Roman" Cupid - The third oldest child of Cupid and Horace and second youngest. Roman is outspoken and friendly to all, in stark contrast to his best friend forever after, Joy Charming. By the end of his high school career, he is six foot two with olive skin, curly golden hair, white wings, and bright pink eyes.

Starling Hood - The daughter of Sparrow Hood and Duchess Swan. She is quite pretty and has been often called 'hot headed'.

Duke Hood - The son of Sparrow Hood and Duchess Swan, and Gal's close friend and roommate. Fully grown, Duke is six foot four with bright red hair, brown eyes, and freckles.

Lily Croakington - The daughter of Hopper Croakington and Joy's roommate during her sophomore, junior, and the first semester of her senior years.

Sage Wood - the daughter of Melody Piper and Oak Wood, Sage is a year younger than Rosemary and her best friend.

Alexandria "Alex" Cupid - Alex is Roman's younger sister, and the youngest of the Cupid's children. She is the same age as Gal, Rosemary, and Duke.

Athens Cupid - Roman's older sister, the second oldest Cupid child.

Gideon Hatter - the oldest of Maddie Hatter's twin sons by literally five seconds, Gideon is in the same age as Joy and Roman.


	2. Something Productive

Once upon a time, Poppy O'Hair had a crush on Sparrow Hood, but that was a long time ago. A very long time ago. Okay, fine, it was like two hours ago. But the point was that Poppy no longer found Sparrow attractive. Not at all. And she especially did not appreciate his music. Particularly when he decided to practice only three feet outside of her dorm room in the very, very early morning.

Poppy groaned and rolled over in her bed, covering her head with her pillow. "Will he ever stop?" she asked to no one in particular.

"I don't think that he will," her sister, Holly, replied.

Poppy flipped over in her bed and looked at her sister, who was already up and getting ready for a big day of activities. Her sister liked to make sure that she spent every hour of her Saturday doing something productive. Poppy, on the other hand, liked to sleep till noon then marathon 'What Not to Wear Fairest Edition'. A show that focused more on the hair and makeup than the fashion.

"That was a rhetorical question," Poppy said.

"I know," Holly said with a smile, and picked her purse up off of the dresser. "Are you plan on doing anything productive today, or are you just going to lay around in bed watching tv?"

"Laying around in bed watching tv is doing something," Poppy protested, "Though I doubt that I'll be able to watch anything with that racket going on."

"I thought that you liked him," Holly said.

"Not anymore," Poppy muttered.

Holly just shook her head. "I'm going shopping with Ashlynn," she said, "Want to come?"

Poppy looked down at the purple pajamas that she was wearing. "No," she said.

"Alright," Holly said, then left the room. The door closed with a click behind her.

With Holly now gone, Sparrow Hood's music was louder than ever. Poppy rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. Sparrow Hood's screeching, narcissistic voice kept coming through her closed window.

Poppy couldn't believe him. What kind of person practiced outside of the Royal Wing at six in the morning? Nobody sane, that's who. Poppy climbed out of bed and yanked on a pair of combat boots. She would give that lousy, no good, annoying, wannabe singer a piece of her mind.

She opened her window and jumped the two feet to the ground. Sparrow Hood was a few feet away, oblivious of her, strumming his guitar. Angry, Poppy marched up to where his amp was and pulled the cord out of it.

"Hey!" Sparrow Hood shouted, as he realized that his horrible music was no longer coming through his amp, "What was that for?"

"What, in the name of ever after, are you doing out here at six AM?"

Sparrow turned to look at her. He looked like he was about to shout, when a look of confusion passed over his face. "Your hairs long," he said.

Poppy sputtered. He was playing music in the early reaches on the morning and he hadn't even told her why. Instead, he had just commented about her hair. She knew that her hair was long. It was always long in the morning before she cut it.

"I know that," Poppy snapped, "Why do you care?"

"It looks better short," Sparrow said. He said it like it was a fact, a thing that everyone should know, and that she was stupid for not knowing that her hair looked better short. It made Poppy even madder.

"Why on earth do you care about how my hair looks?"

"I was just saying that it looks better short," Sparrow sounded offended.

"Well, maybe I'm growing it out."

"Why? So you can look just like your sister?"

"My sister's a beautiful person!"

"I didn't say that Holly's not hot-"

"I'm pretty sure that you did," Poppy said, crossing her arms.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

Poppy was about ready to punch Sparrow. She stepped forward and swung. It would've gone perfectly, if it wasn't for the fact that Sparrow Hood had decided to take a step closer at the exact moment that she swung her arm. Instead of hitting him in the jaw, like it was supposed to, the punch knocked of his hat and knocked Poppy off of balance.

Poppy fell to the ground, landing in a very unprincess like manner on her butt, and Sparrow Hood's green fedora fell right on top of her. Fitting perfectly around her head.

Instead of laughing, like Poppy expected him to, Sparrow offered her a hand. Poppy took it begrudgingly.

"I'm still mad at you," she said, just in case he got the wrong idea. She was only accepting his help because it was the polite thing to do.

"Of course," Sparrow said, smiling that wry smile at her.

Poppy would've given Sparrow back his hat, told him off a few more times, and then climbed back in bed to sleep until noon. She would've done all of that if it wasn't for the fact that at that exact moment a camera went off not five feet away from them. Both Sparrow and Poppy turned to find Blondie Locks, standing with her camera and a smile on her face.

"Wow," she said, "This is big news."

"What's big news?" Poppy asked, confused.

"Why you and Sparrow dating," Blondie said.

Poppy felt light headed. Blondie thought that she was dating Sparrow Hood. This was bad. This was really bad.

"We're not dating," Poppy said.

Blondie didn't seem to hear her. "I mean, I knew that you had a crush on him, but I didn't know that you two had started dating."

"We're not dating," Poppy said again.

Again, Blondie didn't hear her. "Everyone will love this. I mean, you two are practically made for each other."

"Blondie-"

"I need to come up with a name-"

"Blondie-"

"Porrow? Spoppy?"

"Blondie!"

"Yes," Blondie finally looked at Poppy.

"We're not dating."

"Why of course you are," Blondie said, "You're wearing his hat."

Poppy's hands flew to her head and she quickly took off the green fedora and handed it to Sparrow. "We're not-" she began, but Blondie was already gone, disappearing around the corner.

Poppy groaned and sat down hard on the ground. A second later, Sparrow joined her. "Thanks for the help," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't see what's so wrong," Sparrow said.

"You don't see what's wrong?" Poppy laughed. "Blondie thinks that we're a couple now. Soon the whole school will too."

Sparrow shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"

"We're not a couple."

"Maybe we should be," Sparrow said.

Poppy turned to face him, surprise written across her face. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Do you think that I normally wake up at six AM and go sing in the Royal Wing?"

"Are you saying that you woke me up and gave me a headache because you wanted to ask me on a date?"

"You're a pretty cool chick," Sparrow said.

Poppy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sparrow Hood liked her. Why had he never told her this? Why had he never said anything? Why did it take someone else saying something for him to mention it to her? She had a freaking crush on him.

"So, is that a yes or a no?" Sparrow asked.

"Both," Poppy said.

"Both?"

"Yes, I will go on a date with you. No, I will not be your girlfriend. At least, not until we see how this date goes."

Sparrow grinned. "I can live with that."

"Cool."

"Cool."

Poppy looked down at her purple pjs and combat boots. She could feel her hair clinging to her neck and it annoyed her. "I need to go cut my hair. It's really starting to annoy me."

Sparrow smiled. "I knew you weren't actually growing it long."

Poppy smiled back and climbed back in to her dorm room with a wave to Sparrow. As soon as she fell through the window, the door opened, omitting a frantic Holly.

"Sorry, I accidentally grabbed your purse," She stopped and looked at Poppy, who was dusting herself off. "What are you doing?"

Poppy smiled. "Something productive."


	3. Love Potion Number 9

Cerise Hood was having the time of her life. With her cape gone, and the wind rushing past her ears and through her hair as she ran, her father by her side. Cerise would only be having a better time if Headmaster Grimm suddenly showed up and told her that she could finally be herself. Only then.

Cerise howled a big, long howl and grinned a feral grin at her father. He smiled back.

"Race ya," Cerise said, "I bet that I could beat you."

Her father barked out a laugh. "Double the chores?"

Cerise nodded. "Double the chores."

That was all that her father needed. He darted away and within seconds, he was out of sight. Cerise didn't even have time to speak. A second later, she darted after him.

Cerise could see her father a few meters in front of her. She knew that he would win, but it was worth it. She rarely ever got to run through the enchanted forest with her dad. They had to stay apart at school. Full moons like this one almost made the hiding worth it. Almost.

She lost sight of her father up ahead. Cerise growled. She wasn't going to win, but that didn't mean that she would make winning easy for him. Cerise sped up, turning the corner and running right in to a very tall person that was definitely not a tree.

Cerise bounced off the person, landing on the ground. "Hey!" Cerise started to say, but she stopped as she finally realized who the person was.

Standing only two feet away from her, not even looking at her, was Daring Charming...her crush.

Cerise's hands flew instantly to cover her ears, hoping that Daring hadn't noticed. He hadn't. It was more than that though. Daring Charming wasn't noticing anything. He hadn't even realized that she had bumped in to him.

"Daring?" Cerise asked. He didn't respond.

Cautiously, Cerise pulled a hand from her ear and waved it in front of his face. Nothing happened. Daring just stood there, he didn't even flinch. Cerise moved around to face Daring.

He looked just as handsome as ever, but something was off. His expression, which was normally prideful, was blank. His eyes were glazed over, and he was starting wistfully at the moon. Cerise Hood had never known Daring to do anything wistfully.

"The moon," Daring murmured. Cerise looked up at the moon, but couldn't figure out what Daring was talking about. Of course, Cerise found the moon to be beautiful, but she was a wolf, it was in her wasn't it Daring's.

"Dad!" Cerise called in to the direction that her father had run off, but he didn't appear. Cerise sighed, she'd have to do this one on her own then.

Something was wrong with Daring Charming, very wrong. Cerise grabbed his wrist and dragged him off to go find Raven. Daring followed her like a puppy.

* * *

"It's a love potion," Raven said with a groan.

Cerise raised an eyebrow. "A love potion? Who's?"

Raven looked at Daring, who was sitting, staring out in to the night. "It could be anyone's," Raven said, "It's pretty powerful, but it obviously didn't work."

"It didn't work?"

"If it had worked then we'd have a love sick Daring Charming, instead," She gestured at Daring, "I don't even know what to call that."

"Moon sick."

"Moon sick?"

"Yeah," Cerise explained, "It's like he's in love with the moon."

"Right," Raven said with a nod.

"Now the question is how do we get rid of the love potion?"

"I have an idea," Raven said, crawling under her bed and pulling out a large, leather bound tome.

"What's that?"

"My mom's old spell book," Raven said. At Cerise's worried expression, she said, "Don't worry, it's not a dangerous one."

"I didn't know that your mom owned anything not dangerous."

"Okay, it's less dangerous. But it'll have what we need." She opened the spell book with a thud and flipped through the index. "Here it is," she rummaged through a couple of pages, "Getting rid of love potions. It says that we either have to wait for it to wear off-"

"How long will that take?"

Raven glanced at Daring. "I'd say, a week and a half."

"What's the other option?"

"We have to get his true love to kiss him."

"Oh," Cerise said. That would be the easier option. Daring had a true love-one that everyone knew about. Even if Cerise had a crush on him, his true love was Apple. "Apple, then?"

Raven slammed the spell book shut. "Apple it is."

* * *

"So, your saying that someone gave Daring a love potion and now I have to kiss him because I'm his true love?"

"Exactly," Raven exclaimed.

"Who would do that to Daring?"

Cerise snorted. "Who wouldn't?"

Apple shot her a threatening look. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was the one who found him," Cerise said.

"Will you kiss him already so we can all go to bed?" Raven asked.

 _Or go find our father who is out in the woods_ , Cerise thought to herself. As soon as Apple kissed Daring she would be able to be rid of this stupid hood and get back to what was important.

"This will only take a minute," Apple said. Smiling, she walked over to where Daring was standing, and placed a quick peck on his lips. Nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" Apple asked.

"Maybe, it needs to be longer," Raven suggested. Apple kissed Daring again, this time for a longer amount of time. Again, nothing happened.

"Why's it not working?"

"Maybe something went wrong with the potion," Raven said.

"Yes," Apple nodded in agreement, "That must be it. That has to be it. Otherwise-"

"No. No. No."

"Otherwise we're not true love," Apple said and burst in to tears.

* * *

Cerise stomped out of Raven's room and threw her hood against the wall. It was late at night, so no one was around to see her wolf ears. Cerise sat down with a thump on the floor and stared at the impossible Daring Charming.

Raven was inside her room, reassuring Apple, so Cerise had been pushed out of the room along with moon sick Daring. He was currently leaning against the window just outside the room, looking out at the moon. Quietly, Cerise picked herself up and walked over to lean against the railing with him.

"You're impossible," she muttered, looking at Daring with his blonde hair looking as perfect as it had when she'd seen him earlier that morning. He had been laughing then, with Apple, Humphry, and a few other of his friends. As usual, he hadn't noticed her at all.

"It's so beautiful," Daring murmured, looking out at the moon.

Cerise sighed. "Yeah, it really is."

Daring turned to her then. He turned to her and he looked at her, but it was like he wasn't actually looking at her. Instead, he was watching the reflection of the moon in her eyes.

Cerise couldn't take him looking at her that way. She liked him, _like_ liked him. She had to remind herself that it was the moon that he was so enchanted by, not her. But, maybe it wasn't?

Without thinking, because if she had been she would've definitely never done it, Cerise took a step forward and planted a kiss on Daring Charming's lips. A second later, she retreated, already regretting it.

"I shouldn't've done that," she scolded herself.

"Shouldn't've done what?" Cerise turned to find Daring Charming blinking at her, his gaze no longer blank but confused.

"Eep," Cerise let out a small, undignified noise.

"Cerise?" Daring asked, no longer staring at the moon, but at her, "Why does it look like you have wolf ears?"

Cerise ran. Quickly picking up her hood as she darted out of the corridor. This was bad. Daring Charming had seen her ears. Cerise defied the hood and ran as fast as she could. Still, one thing kept nagging at the back of her brain. Maybe, it had been a fluke and Apple's kiss had just taken some time. It was the more reasonable answer. But maybe...

Maybe Daring Charming was Cerise Hood's true loves kiss.

Just maybe.


	4. The End

Apple White hated genies. She despised them with every fiber of her being. They sold false dreams. They were the con men of the fairy tale world. She should've known better. She should've known better than to make that wish, after all, she was practically a genius. But she made the wish anyways. Oh, how much Apple regretted it.

It had been simple, really. Apple had been given a magic lamp for her birthday, and suddenly the solution to all of her problems had appeared. It had been eight words. Eight simple words.

 _"I wish that Raven would follow her destiny."_

The genie had smiled at her, a sickly sweet smile, and granted her wish with a flick of his finger. Then everything had gone the way that it was meant to. Raven had signed the Storybook of Legends along with the rest of the Rebels. It had been wonderful, magical even.

Then came graduation day.

Apple had been ecstatic. The day that she had been waiting for forever after had finally arrived. Then, just as the ceremony was ending, Raven stepped on to the pedestal and cursed all of Ever After.

They said that her mother was evil, but she was nothing compared to Raven Queen. Raven Queen hadn't poisoned Apple, she had poisoned everyone but Apple. Only a few now remained.

Apple looked around at the room of broken warriors. They weren't warriors. They were princesses, and huntsmen, and tea shop owners, but Raven had turned them in to warriors. Raven had made them soldiers.

Dexter Charming, his glasses chipped and broken, was sitting next to his twin sister, her suit of armor dented and tarnished. They were staring at a body with a white sheet covering it. Apple knew instantly that it belonged to Daring Charming, the most recent of their losses.

Her second in command, Maddie Hatter, dressed in different shades of grey, was leaning against a table, plotting with Apple's general, Cerise Hood, her ears in plain sight. Hanging on a leather cord around Cerise's neck was a small block of wood-the only remaining peice of Cedar Wood.

Kitty Cheshire was laying against Poppy O'Hair, who's hair now ran down to her midthigh. Not far from them was Hunter Huntsman, his axe adorned with a glass slipper that had once belonged to his beloved. Alistair kept bouncing a rock against the wall of their torn down base. Rosebella, sitting next to his feet, stared off in to space. Her days of happily roaming the hallways, pestering people to sign petitions were long over.

There were so many gone. Was it only a year ago that they had been a happy graduating class? Was it only a year ago that Headmaster Grimm had told Apple that everything was going to be alright now that Raven was following her destiny?

Apple went over the list of dead in her mind; Briar, Ashlynn, Holly, Lizzie, Bunny, Sparrow, Duchess, Daring, Melody, Cedar...Apple shook her head. There were so many others. Headmaster Gimm, Professor Badwolf, Little Red Riding Hood, Dr. King and Queen Charming, her own parents...

Apple kicked her foot against the dirt covered ground, revealing a dusty old lamp. She sighed, and picked it up, rubbing it off with a tattered sleeve. It looked like any other old, dusty lamp that you'd would've been able to find in a thrift shop, but Apple recognized it. The words from it's occupant still rang in her ears every time she looked in the mirror.

 _"Be careful what you wish for, little girl. You may not like what you get."_


	5. Back Before One

Ashlynn Ella couldn't have cared less about the ball, but she was going anyways. After all, as her mother would've said, it was her destiny, and she had, stupidly, signed the Book of Legends.

The twenty-three year old looked herself over in the mirror. Her dismal rags had been turned in to a baby blue dress with lilac flowers around the hem. She would've been foolish to say that this strapless, knee length ensemble wasn't the dress of her dreams. It absolutely was.

"I have been designing the dress since I was six," her fairy godmother, Roxanne, told her.

Ashlynn smiled at her. "I love it. It's beautiful."

Roxanne nodded. "I know," she said, "Now, you know the rules. You better be back before one or the dress, and the carriage, and all of that stuff will disappear."

"One?" Ashlynn asked. As far as she had been told, Cinderella left the ball at midnight.

The fairy godmother waved her hand in the air. "Who honestly leaves a party at midnight anymore? When I was at Ever After High, all of the interesting things happened at midnight. Who wants to miss that?"

Ashlynn stared at Roxanne. "I'm pretty sure that I'm the interesting thing that happens at midnight."

Roxanne shrugged. "You sure won't be the interesting thing if you don't get in that carriage."

Ashlynn glanced at the carriage. It was gold and blue, with vines weaving all around it. It, too, was beautiful. However, it was missing a driver. As well as footmen and horses.

"No ones driving it," Ashlynn pointed out.

"It doesn't need a driver," Roxanne said, "It drives itself."

It drives itself? Wicked!

Ashlynn climbed in to the carriage and waved to Roxanne as it pulled away. The older woman was so happy about Ashlynn winning the heart of the prince. She sighed and leaned against the side of the carriage. She wasn't too happy about winning the heart about the prince, herself.

Secretly, Ashlynn wished that she was still in high school, and that this was just another one of Briar Beauty's parties that she was attending with her then boyfriend, Hunter. They party, and dance, and maybe even kiss a little, before ditching the party to spend time in the gardens. Or maybe they'd go back to her dorm and cook up some healthy vegan food. Ashlynn missed Hunter so much.

Things had ended pretty well with him. As well, as things can end when you're still both in love with each other. Things had ended because they both had their destinies to follow. Hunter had insisted that they could still be together, but Ashlynn had pointed out the foolishness in that statement. Ashlynn's destiny was to fall in love with a prince. Hunter wasn't a prince.

Ashlynn was thrown from her seat as the carriage came to an abrupt stop. Dusting herself off, she peered outside the window, expecting to find a white castle. She was met by a view trees instead.

Ashlynn opened up the carriage door and hopped out, landing gingerly on her feet. Careful not to break her glass slippers, Ashlynn picked her way around the carriage, trying to identify what was wrong with it. She finally noticed that one of the back wheels had fallen off of the axle.

Oh, why had Roxanne insisted on having a self driving carriage?

Ashlynn crawled back in to the carriage and searched for a carriage repair kit. She couldn't find any. She was about to give up and call Roxanne, when she heard a voice from behind her.

"You look like you're a damsel in need of help. Lucky for you, helping damsels is one of my best qualities."

Ashlynn froze. She would've recognized that voice anywhere. Slowly, she turned around.

He was taller than he had been in high school. His muscles were more defined. His hair now covered his whole head, instead of only half of it. He was wearing a green fitted shirt and a pair of jeans. The expression on his face was the same one that he got whenever someone needed his help. Apple had said that it looked dumb. Ashlynn thought that it was cute.

"Hunter?" she asked, "Hunter Huntsman?"

Hunter's face lit up as he finally recognized her. "Ash!" he exclaimed, "Wow. I didn't recognize you. It's been so long."

Ashlynn chuckled nervously, trying not to notice the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah. Five years will do that to you."

"Five years," Hunter nodded, "Though, to be fair, I still remember it all like it was yesterday."

"You do?" Ashlynn smiled and climbed down from the carriage to join Hunter on the ground.

"Yeah," Hunter said, "Hey, remember that time Senior year that we tried to make vegan fries without a fryer, and then it got all over your dress..." He faded off as he notice Ashlynn's dress. "That's a nice dress," he commented.

"Thanks," Ashlynn muttered, hating the sudden change in mood.

"What's it for?"

Ashlynn didn't answer. She didn't want to. All that she wanted to do was go back to high school.

"What's it for, Ash?"

"Oh," she said, "You know...stuff."

Hunter almost smiled, but he didn't. "It for the ball," he said. It was a statement, not a question.

Ashlynn nodded.

"Why aren't you at the ball?" he asked.

Ashlynn couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead, she just gesture to the broken wheel.

"Right," Hunter nodded, "I could fix it."

Again, Ashlynn kept quiet.

"I can fix it, Ash. Then you can meet your Prince Charming."

Ashlynn almost told him that she didn't was a Charming, they were overrated. She wanted _him_.

"Do you want me to fix it?" Hunter asked.

Ashlynn just stared at him. Of course, she didn't want him to fix it. If her fixed it then she'd have to leave. She didn't want to leave him.

"Ashlynn? Do you want me to fix it?"

"No," Ashlynn said quietly.

"No?"

"No, I don't want you to fix the broken wheel."

Hunter looked surprised. But it was more than that. He looked hopeful. "So, what do you want then?"

"I want to go for a walk," she said.

"You want to go one a walk? In the dark, dangerous, wolf infested forest?"

Ashlynn nodded. "I want to go on a walk in the dark, dangerous, wolf infested forest _with you_."

Hunter smiled. "I think that I can do that." He took her arm, and together they walked through the woods.

The next day, when her stepmother asked her if she had been at the ball, Ashlynn had told her no. Unlike ever Cinderella before her, Ashlynn was actually telling the truth.


	6. Hun We Saw You Hit the Ceiling

Raven flopped down on her bed, her purple and black hair spilling over the dark pillow. She looked down at the album in her hand. Tailor Quick singing Fall Out Prince songs. She couldn't think of anything better. It was the perfect gift to finish the perfect date.

"Oh, yeah. You've got it bad."

Raven sat up to see Cerise Hood sitting on the foot of her bed along with Cedar Wood and Maddie Hatter. Well, technically Maddie was hanging from the rafters. She laid back down on her bed. _Couldn't her friends give her some piece and quiet?_

"Got what?" Maddie asked, "Is she sick?" She practically flew down from the rafters and placed a hand on Raven's head. "You don't feel warm. Maybe it's princess pox."

"It's not princess pox," Cedar said, "Raven's got the Dexters."

"The Dexters?"

"She means that she's in love," Cerise explained, "with Dexter."

Raven sighed. "I'm not in love with Dexter," she said.

Cerise raised a questioning eyebrow. "Not in love with Dexter?" she turned to Cedar, "What do you think?"

"I'd say that she's in love, and you know I can't-"

"Tell a lie," Raven finished for her, "I know. But I'm not in love with Dexter. You're just mistaken."

"Raven's in denial," Maddie sang.

Raven groaned and hid her face under her pillow. "I'm not in denial," her shouting was muffled by the pillow.

"Sure you are."

* * *

Darling was waiting for him in his room. "So?" she asked, "How'd it go?"

Dexter grinned. "Great."

Darling smiled a knowing smile. "You're in love," she said.

"Definitely," Dexter said. He was definitely in love.


	7. Laughing With the Enemy

Shooting the next door neighbor was bad enough, the fact that the next door neighbor happened to be the villain of Red's story was even worse.

Red swallowed, trying as best as she could to hide her new bow behind her back. It had been a birthday present from Marian, one that Red had been dying to use. Her family, however, hadn't been as happy about the present.

 _'Why on earth would you need that thing?'_ her mother had asked.

 _'You could seriously injure yourself,'_ her uncle had reminded her.

 _'Here, have a basket,'_ her grandmother had said, handing her a basket.

Red had just nodded at her family's' remarks, and went out in to the forest to practice with the bow. She knew that none of her family members would follow her there. The forest was the Wolfs territory. The village was the Hoods. None of the Hoods went in to the forest and none of the Wolfs went in to the village. Red could practically hear her family members scolding her.

 _'What are you doing in the forest?_ ' her mother would ask.

 _'A Wolf could seriously hurt you,'_ her uncle would scold.

 _'Here, have a basket,'_ her grandmother would say, and hand her a basket.

It had all been going rather well, up until the point were one of her arrows had missed the tree and instead gone in the the thick brush not far behind it. The startled yelp had surprised Red. When Bad Wolf had emerged from the brush, Red had been about ready to run, but she had stayed her ground instead.

"What are you doing here?" Red demanded, looking expectantly at Bad Wolf.

Bad Wolf was the oldest of his litter or six, and had therefor been given the most prized role of being the big bad wolf. He was two years older than Red and about a head taller. They had never actually been formally introduced. They just both knew who the other one was.

Bad was tall, with broad shoulders, and an(annoyingly) chiseled jaw. His silver and black hair was slicked back and he was wearing a red plaid shirt with a pair of jeans.

Bad raised an eyebrow. " _What am I doing here?_ What are _you_ doing here? After all, this is my forest."

Red realized that she was right. This was his forest. She wasn't supposed to be here. Still, she wasn't about to let a Wolf be right. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped, "Embroidery?"

To her surprise, Bad laughed. "I don't know," he said, "That's a little too sharp to be a needle."

Red stopped. _Had Bad Wolf just made a joke?_ Wasn't he supposed to be mean and scary? It was in the name.

"Let me guess," Bad said, yanking the arrow from his arm with surprising ease," The bow is a present from Marian and your family doesn't like it, so you decided to come here to practice because none of them will follow you?"

Red was surprised how easily Bad had figured out her story. "Yeah," she said, "basically."

Bad nodded. "I thought so," he said and handed her back the arrow, "You're lucky that it was me who found you and not another Wolf. Trespassing is not taken lightly. Especially when it's a Hood."

Red looked at Bad. Was he going to turn her in? He seemed to have no intention of doing so. Still...

"I'm not going to turn you in," Bad said, interrupting Red's thoughts, "in case that's what you're so worried about."

Red let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said.

"I don't believe that we've ever been formally introduced," Bad said.

"No, we haven't," Red agreed. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Red."

Bad Wolf laughed.

"What's so funny?" Red asked.

"You're parents weren't very original were they?"

"I guess they weren't, _Bad_."

Bad shrugged. "They had six of us to name. You're parents only had one."

Red couldn't help it, she laughed. It was Bad's turn to be confused. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just," Red said, still laughing, "we're supposed to be mortal enemies and here we are talking about," she waved her hand, "our parents' failure to give us original names."

"Yeah," Bad said, "I guess we are." He looked at Red. "So, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are you going to name your kid?"

Red looked at him. What an odd question to ask. She guessed that he was just being friendly, except that he wasn't supposed to be friendly. He was supposed to be her mortal enemy. _How had it been so easy for Red to forget that?_

"That depends," Red said.

"On what?"

"Whether they're a boy or girl."

Bad nodded. "It they're a boy?" he asked.

"Probably, Brick."

Bad raised an eyebrow. "Brick?"

"Yeah," Red said, "It's a shade of red, but it's not just straight red."

"I guess that makes sense," Bad said, "So, your daughter's going to be named after a shade of red too?"

"Cerise," Red said.

"Cerise," Bad repeated, "Pretty name."

Red smiled. "I know."

Bad Wolf laughed. Red rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."

"No, I'm not," Bad said, "I'm Bad."

It was such a stupid and unoriginal joke, but Red laughed anyways.


	8. Pity the Princess

"What on earth are you doing?" A tall, beautiful girl with blonde hair that cascaded down her back leaned out of the window of her Ever After High dorm room. Below her, a slightly shorter girl with chestnut brown hair tied up in a ponytail was clinging to the side of the wall.

"What's it look like I'm doing, Grace?" the brown haired girl asked, "I'm climbing down the wall."

Grace stared at her roommate. "I thought that you said that you weren't doing this tonight, Marian," she said.

"I lied," Marian said.

Grace sighed. "I can't believe that I'm doing this," she muttered to herself and hitched her leg over the windowsill.

"What are you doing?" Marian, who was now at the bottom of the tower, asked.

Grace didn't answer. She might've been strong, but she wasn't as strong as her roommate. While Marian was strong and tough, Grace was graceful. She could dance circles around Marian any day. That didn't mean that she wasn't tough, Grace was tough, she was just more elegant about it.

Grace hopped down from the tower only a few minutes after Marian. It had taken her longer than the shorter girl to descend it, but she had actually landed on her feet when she jumped off. Marian had fallen on her butt.

"What are you doing?" Marian hissed.

"You didn't think that I'd let you come alone, did you?" the taller girl asked.

"I did since we have a DID exam tomorrow."

Grace waved her hand. "DID is easy."

Marian snorted. "For you it is," she said, and cut across the courtyard towards the enchanted forest. Grace followed, her hair bouncing in the moonlight.

"So," she asked, "what are you doing tonight?"

"I was planning on some archery practice," Marian said, "but since you're here, how about some riding?"

Grace smiled. "Sounds great."

Together, they snuck in to the stables and saddled their horses. Marian had a tall white battle horse with specks of black all over its' coat. Grace, on the other hand, had a dainty pure white horse that was kind to every living creature, but it was also the fastest horse at Ever After. Like Grace, it had fooled everyone, except Marian.

To say that the girls had been instant friends would've been an overstatement, but it wasn't that far from the truth. Marian was outspoken and deliberately broke rules. Grace deliberately followed them, but not all of the time. When no one was looking, she liked to sneak out. Still, everyone had thought that she was the perfect princess. Headmaster Grimm had thought that she'd be able to fix Marian, which was why they were roomed together.

Marian had been able to see through Grace's facade the moment that they met. Grace hadn't been able to fix Marian, instead she had just added fuel to the fire. The two were thick as thieves, though no one knew it.

"I'm just going to put it out there and announce that I am going to fail this DID exam," Marian said as they galloped in to the enchanted forest.

Grace laughed at the feeling of the wind in her hair. "Maybe you should've studied," she suggested.

"Since when have you known me to study for DID?" Marian scoffed. Grace nodded, the girl never studied for Damsel-in-Distressing. She studied for other classes, but not for that one. She thought that it was a waste of her time. Grace agreed.

She was about to retort, when Marian pulled her horse to an abrupt halt. Grace did the same. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Someone's following us," Marian said.

 _Following them? Who would follow them at this hour?_

"Do you want me to do the hair thing?" Grace asked, getting ready to flip her hair.

"No," Marian shook her head before grinning mischievously at her, "I want to see who it is."

"And?"

"Ambush them."

Grace sighed, but still followed her friend up a tree as their horses ran off to a pasture just out of sight. "You know," she fumbled as she hoisted herself on to a branch, "this would be a lot easier if I were in pants."

"So buy a pair of pants," Marian said sliding on to her own branch with ease.

"It's not that easy," Grace said.

"Yeah it is. You walk in to a store, like Chasm, and buy a pair of pants from the prince section."

"It's different for me. If I bought something from the prince section-"

"Shhhh," Marian cut her off as the sound of approaching footsteps got louder.

They both watched as a lanky boy with spiky red hair rounded the corner. He was followed by a tall, broad shouldered boy with sparkling blue eyes, luxurious brown locks, and a blinding smile.

"Robin," Marian hissed from the branch beside Grace.

Grace sighed. Robin was Marian's mortal enemy. This was mostly due to the fact that he was the other person in their grade who was as skilled with a bow as her friend. They were always competing. Always trying to one up each other. It got annoying after a while.

"Come on," Robin said from below them, "We've almost caught up to them." He rushed forward. His parter, however, didn't seem to be in as much of a hurry.

"And what exactly are we going to do when we catch up to them?" Dashing Charming asked.

Dashing was the oldest of the Charming princes(he only had one sibling, but he had many, many cousins), and the most pursued due to the fact that he was the only one actually inheriting a throne. He was obnoxious, like most boys who know that they're attractive, but he was smart. He had once told Grace that he wanted to be a doctor.

"We're going to turn them in to Headmaster Grimm," Robin stated.

"For doing what?"

"Being out of bed after curfew."

Dashing sighed. "You do realize that we're out of bed past curfew, right?"

Robin stopped, considering this statement for a moment. "But the only reason that we're out after curfew is because they're out after curfew," he said as if his logic was sound.

Grace watched as Marian rolled her eyes. Robin's logic never made any sense.

Dashing stared at Robin like he was an idiot, which he was. "Are you sure that Marian was with Grace?" he asked after a moment.

"Who else do you know with shimmering blonde tresses?"

Dashing shrugged. "My cousins."

Robin groaned. "It was Grace. Grace and Marian are roommates, so it couldn't have been anyone else."

"It doesn't seem like something that Grace would do. I mean, she's the biggest rule follower at Ever After."

Grace snorted. Shows how much he knew.

"Of course it was Grace," Robin said and the two continued to mildly argue until the girls could no longer hear them.

When they were out of earshot, Marian jumped down from the tree branches and landed, ungracefully, on her rear end. A second later, Grace joined her, landing nimbly on her feet. She offered a hand to Marian, which she refused, instead, pulling herself up and brushing herself off.

"Oh, don't be smug," Marian said.

"I'm never smug," Grace smiled, "It would ruin my complexion."

Marian rolled her eyes and turned to look in the direction the boys went. "I can't believe that they're chasing after us," she said.

"Yeah," Grace agreed.

"They're so thick headed," Marian said, "I pity the princess that falls in love with them."

Grace smiled deviously. "I don't know," she said, "I think that you're in love with Robin Hood.

Marian shot her a venomous look. "You say that again, Grace, and I'll tear your heart out."

"Marian and Robin sitting in a tree," Grace began.

"Shut up!" Marian shouted.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"You stop that, Grace, or I swear to-"

"First comes love-"

"I will kill you-"

"Then comes marriage-"

"Grace!"

"Then comes a baby in a baby carriage."

Marian looked at her. "Are you done?"

Grace smiled. "Yep," she said.

"Good," Marian said, "Now I get to do this. Grace and Dashing sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Hey," Grace protested, "I hardly even know Dashing."

"Why don't you ask him out on a date then?" Marian asked.

"Because, I can't just ask him out on a date."

"Why not? I'm pretty sure girls ask him out all the time."

"I'll ask him out the day that you start dating Robin," Grace said.

"How about this instead," Marian suggested, "If I get an A on my DID exam, then you ask out Dashing."

Grace laughed. Marian getting an A on a DID exam was pretty much impossible. "It's a deal," she said.

"Deal."

* * *

The next day, Marian came out of the Dasmel-in-Distressing room with a grin on her face and an A on her exam. Grace was fairly certain that she cheated.


	9. Unadulterated Loathing

When Apple got back to the dormitory, Raven was sitting at her desk with earbuds in and a blank sheet of paper in front of her. Apple glanced at her roommate, grateful for some peace and quite. Lodging with the daughter of the Evil Queen was more of a pain than anything else. She had no idea why Headmaster Grimm had suggested it. Her parents would be terrified if they knew. Thinking about her parents reminded Apple that she had yet to write her weekly letter to them.

Apple trotted over to her aspen desk that sat directly across from Raven's ebony one, so that the two girls' snack were turned towards each other. She took out a sheet of rose scented parchment and gently dusted it. Then she took out her quill and began to write.

 _Dearest, darlingest, Momsie and Popsicle_ , Apple wrote in looping letters.

On the other side of the room Raven scribbled a greeting across her own paper. _My Dear Father,_

At the same time, the girls wrote the exact same words: _There's been some confusion over rooming here at EAH._

Raven continued on. _But, of course, I'll care for Nevermore._

Apple smiled as she wrote. _But, of course, I'll rise above it._

 _For I know that's how you'd want me to respond. Yes, there's been some confusion, for you see, my roommate is..._

Apple searched for the right words. Raven was a difficult person to tell her parents about. She supposed that she could say that her roommate was the enemy of their arch enemy, but they would freak out. Royally.

Apple finally settled on giving a brief description of Raven. _Unusually and exceedingly peculiar, and altogether quite impossible to describe..._

Raven tried to find the words to describe Apple. When she finally did, she smiled to herself. _Blonde_.


	10. The Rabbit Hole

Melody Piper knew that something was going to go wrong when Duchess came to her and told her that Sparrow Hood was taking them clubbing. Sparrow _freakin_ ' Hood! Melody couldn't believe it. Sparrow was an idiot, but for some reason, Duchess was his friend.

Duchess wasn't Melody's best friend forever after, not by a long shot, but when she had approached her earlier in the week, asking if Melody wanted to go clubbing...well, there was no was she was going to say no to that. Plus, the club that they were going to was the exact same one that her favorite DJs, Apollo, was playing at. And, Duchess had offered to pay. There was no way that Melody was passing up such a big opportunity.

It had all been going great, until Sparrow Hood had showed up and declared that he was there to protect them from any and all things dangerous. Melody had rolled her eyes, wondering why Duchess even invited him. It was probably because of her unconscious crush on him, Melody thought as they rounded the corner and the club popped in to view.

The Rabbit Hole was an all ages club run by the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Melody never understood why a caterpillar would open up a club. Then again, he was from wonderland, and people(and animals) from wonderland don't think straight.

"What do we do now?" Sparrow asked, gesturing to the very, very long line leading up to the door.

"Why do you think that we have Melody with us?" Duchess asked her friend.

Sparrow shrugged. "I thought that you liked her," he said.

Melody laughed. The idea of Duchess liking anyone but herself was an amusing one. She turned to Sparrow. "I know the bouncer," she said. She didn't add on that she knew the owner as well, and the security guards, and the bar tenders. The only people that she didn't know on the staff were the DJs, and that was because they were changed so often. She had even DJ-ed there, on occasion.

Melody strolled to the front of the line, ignoring the poisonous looks from the people standing in line. She stopped at the door and smiled at the bouncer, John.

"Sorry," he said, without looking at her, "You want in, then you got to wait your turn."

A couple of the people in line smiled smugly at Melody. She almost laughed. They thought that she would actually have to wait in line to get in to her favorite club. It was cute.

"Not even for me, John?" Melody asked and John, recognizing her voice, turned to look at her.

"Mel!" he exclaimed, wrapping her in a tight embrace, "I haven't seen you in ages."

Melody hugged him back for a second before pushing him away. The staff of the club were practically her family. They always wanted to know what she was up to and how things were going. Several of them had even stopped by the hospital when she had broken her arm.

"Well," Melody said, "I've been busy with school and stuff."

John nodded. "How's school going? I heard about what happened with the whole destiny thing."

Melody nodded. "I actually think that it's for the best. I never wanted to be the next Pied Piper anyways."

"You can always DJ here," John said, "Although, we have a new DJ who just moved in from out of town who's pretty good. He's actually playing tonight."

"I thought that Apollo was DJ-ing tonight," Melody said.

"He couldn't make it. Had some urgent family members to attend to. That guy has one messed up family," John said.

Melody nodded. She was upset that Apollo wouldn't be DJ-ing, but that meant that they might turn it over to her for a while. It had happened before.

"Hey!" someone shouted from the line behind them, "Are you going to let us in or not?"

John sighed and muttered, "Costumers," before allowing Melody and her friends entry on the condition that she'd talk to him after they were done. Melody readily agreed.

Sparrow, Duchess, and Melody entered the club. It was filled to the brim with teenagers and young adults. Melody recognized a few people from school, but she wasn't in any rush to talk to them.

"Go, have fun," she said to Sparrow and Duchess and then took a seat at the bar.

Her eyes scanned the room, easily depicting the regulars from the new kids. A couple people waved to Melody and she waved back. After a while, her eyes drifted to the stage where the new DJ was located.

He was tall, with dark skin and a cleanly shaven head. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose tee with the sleeves cut off that showed off his well defined arm muscles. As far as Melody could tell, he was a couple years older than her and had a pretty good taste in music, if what he was playing now was any indicator.

"He's pretty cute, isn't he?" Melody turned around to see a short woman with silvery blonde hair leaning against the counter. She uncorked a soda and passed it to Melody. "Although, he's a bit too young for my taste."

Melody took a sip and eyed Shrimpy. Of course, the her real name wasn't Shrimpy, it was just what everyone at the club called her because she was so short. Her name was actually Hannah, or something like that. Melody didn't know. When she met Shrimpy, she had told her that her name was Shrimpy and that she was a daughter of one of Snow White's dwarves.

"I don't know, Shrimpy," Melody said, "He's probably nineteen at least."

Shrimpy scoffed. "He's eighteen, Mel, and I'm twenty two."

"That's only four years," Melody said.

"Please," Shrimpy said, "I don't go for DJs."

Melody nodded. "Is he any good?" she asked.

"Yeah," Shrimpy said, "though he's not as good as you."

"Nobody's as good as me," Melody said with a smile.

"Aren't you little miss modest."

Melody just rolled her eyes.

"So," Shrimpy began, "who are the two lovebirds that you walked in here with?"

Melody glanced at Sparrow and Duchess, who were dancing with each other, while trying to not look like they were dancing with each other.

"Those are Sparrow Hood and Duchess Swan," Melody said.

Shrimpy raised an eyebrow. "Hanging with main characters now, Mel?"

"Hardly," Melody said, "They offered to pay for everything because they knew that I could get them through the door."

"Smart move," Shrimpy commented.

"More free food for me," Melody said, "Plus, I get to see all of you."

"And DJ a bit?"

Melody shrugged. "If your new DJ's fine with taking a break."

"Let me ask him if he wants too," Shrimpy said and she ducked out from behind the counter.

Melody followed Shrimpy to where the new DJ was standing. He had his hands full of records that he was sorting through, so he didn't notice them until they were a few feet away.

"Hey," he said when he noticed Shrimpy.

"Hey," Shrimpy said, "Mel, this is Oak Wood. Oak, this is Melody Piper."

" _The_ Melody Piper?" Oak asked.

"I guess," Melody said, "I don't know any other Melody Pipers."

"No," Oak said, "It's just that I've heard a lot about you. You're something of a legend around here."

Melody smiled at the compliment. "Thanks," she said.

"Melody was wondering if you'd let her DJ for a while," Shrimpy said.

Oak look at Shrimpy like he was just not noticing that she was there. "No. I mean, I don't mind. It'd be great."

"Thanks," Melody said and she slid behind the booth. She felt so comfortable here, surrounded by the music and the dancing.

"You might want these," Oak said, handing her his headphones.

Melody took them from him. "Thanks," she said, "Is there anything that you had queued up?"

"No," Oak said, "Play whatever you want. I'm thankful for the break."

"Thanks for letting me play," Melody said pulling a record out of it's sleeve. It was an oldie, but Melody liked oldies.

"Thanks for playing," Oak said, then he followed Shrimpy back to the bar.

"She's cute, isn't she?" Shrimpy asked, handing him an orange soda.

Oak looked at Shrimpy. "Are you trying to set me up?"

Shrimpy shrugged. "I'm just saying that you'd be stupid to let a musically gifted girl like her leave the club without at least getting her number."

Oak nodded and turned his attention back to Melody as she started to play a song. What she'd picked, surprised him. He had always been told that Melody Piper played the best, hottest, new music. But here she was, playing an oldie.

It was a song that Oak had listened to many times, but had always been too scared to play. His crowd didn't usually like oldies, but apparently he'd been wrong. They seemed to love the music as Melody played it. Maybe she had the magical ability to make people enjoy music no matter what genre.

Back on the stage, Melody was having the time of her life. She always felt at home playing her tunes for other people, they pretty much always liked it. She finished her song, before playing another, and another, and another. Melody hardly even noticed when people began to leave. She was just listening to her music.

Around midnight, there was a crash somewhere on the dance floor and the crowd parted as Sparrow Hood made his way to the front. Melody stopped playing as Sparrow grabbed the mic away from her.

"Alright, guys," he said, and Melody wondered if he was drunk. He didn't sound drunk, and the bar didn't sell alcohol to minors. He was probably just being Sparrow. _Stupid, idiotic Sparrow_. "Who wants to hear some real music?"

The crowd did nothing, most of them just looked annoyed. Melody could see the security guards making their way to the front. Sparrow would be out of here as soon as he could say 'narcissism'. That meant that Melody would have to leave too, since Sparrow was her ride.

"Sparrow," Melody hissed, "what do you think you are doing?"

"Providing these people with some quality entertainment," Sparrow said and he opened his mouth to sing. He didn't get the chance too. Before a single note had fallen from his mouth, a security guard had picked him up and thrown him, quite literally, out the door.

Melody met Duchess's eyes. The expression on her face was annoyed more than anything else. She was pissed at Sparrow for ruining her night, as was Melody. She turned to leave, and Melody followed her, jumping down from the stage. She waved to Shrimpy and Oak, both of them were giving her confused looks.

As she passed the bar, Oak got up from his seat and started walking with her. "What was that?" he asked.

Melody sighed. "My ride."

"Does he usually do that?" Oak asked.

"I don't know," Melody said, "It was the first time I've been clubbing with them."

"You probably shouldn't take him clubbing anymore," Oak said.

"Believe me, I won't."

Oak nodded. "Maybe we should go clubbing some time. I heard that Apollo's playing at The Enchanted Fire Saturday night."

Melody nodded. "Sounds fun," she said.

Oak smiled. "It's a date," he said. Then noticing what he had said added, "I mean not a date. It's an event. That we are going to as friends, or acquaintances, it's up to you, really."

Melody raised an eyebrow. "Are you always this nervous?"

Oak laughed. "Only around pretty DJs."

"It's a date," Melody said, waving to John and Oak as she caught up with her ride.

"What was that?" Duchess asked.

"Nothing," Melody said as she followed her friends, "Just a guy asking me out on a date."

Duchess choked.


	11. It's a Wonder

Bunny White had had a crush on Alistair since she was seven, which was around the same time that she became friends with him. He had smiled at her, introduced himself, and nervously rubbed the back of his neck, and Bunny had fallen in love.

He was cute, and funny, and always running off in search of adventure. So, Bunny became his adventuring companion. Even while Wonderland was under attack, Bunny, Alistair, and their friends would wander off in search of something more. Sometimes it was a potion that would cure all ills, others it was a dagger to stop the Evil Queen.

Even after their friends left, Alistair and Bunny would still go questing. Alistair needed something more. He was restless. He wanted to save Wonderland, to bring their world back to life. Bunny couldn't blame him. She loved their land as much as he did, but she always felt a little insignificant.

She didn't think that anyone knew about her crush on Alistair, she was pretty good at hiding it. After all, she didn't want to ruin their friendship. So, when Bunny told her friends that she had a crush on Alistair, the expressions on their faces shocked her.

"We know," Lizzie said, glancing toward the lunch line where Alistair was getting food.

"You know?" Bunny didn't know what to say. How could her friends know? She was good at hiding it.

"Yep," Maddie said, bouncing excitedly up and down on her toes.

"How?"

Kitty sighed and laid down on the table. "Because it's obvious Bunny," she said. "Honestly, it's a wonder that you two have gone this long without saying anything."

"It's obvious?" Bunny asked. Then, as she realized what Kitty had said, asked, "What do you mean 'you two'?"

"He likes you," Lizzie said plainly.

Bunny shook her head. "He doesn't like me. I mean, we're just friends."

"Call it what you like," Kitty said, "He has romantic feelings towards you and you have romantic feelings towards him. Last time I checked, that wasn't something that friends did."

"Kitty-" Lizzie started, but Kitty cut her off.

"Look, if you don't believe us, just ask him."

"I can't just ask him," Bunny said.

"Why not?"

"Because...because..."

"Because he's your best friend," Maddie offered.

"Exactly!"

"That's _not_ a good reason," Kitty said.

"But-"

"Look, if he's your best friend, it won't be awkward to ask him if he likes you. If it is, then he likes you."

"Kitty, that doesn't make any sense," Lizzie said.

Kitty waved her hand in dismissal. "He's coming over here right now," she said. She placed a hand on Maddie and the other on Lizzie. "Ask him," she said and the three of them disappeared, leaving only Kitty's smile behind for a second.

Bunny stared at her friend's smile until it too vanished. "I can't just do that," she said to the now gone Kitty.

"Hey," Alistair said, placing his tray on the table, "Where'd everyone run off to?"

Bunny's ears shot straight up. "Um, they forgot that they had an assignment due next period."

Alistair raised an eyebrow. "All three of them?"

Bunny nodded. "Yeah. Though not for the same class. Obviously."

Alistair stared at her for a second, then nodded, opening up his milk carton as he did so. Bunny stared at her friend- _her best friend._ Did her really like her? Her friends thought that he did, and she'd never known all three of them to be wrong about something.

 _Ask him,_ the little voice in the back of her mind prodded. Bunny shook her head. Asking him would ruin their friendship. Besides, her friends wouldn't know if she didn't. She could always tell them that she'd asked him and he had said no.

 _But, what if he says yes?_ the little voice said. Bunny glanced at Alistair, his curly blonde hair was covering his bright eyes. If he said yes then maybe-

"You're staring," Alistair said.

Bunny could feel her cheeks burning. "Right," she mumbled, "Sorry."

"Don't get me wrong. I mean, it's great to look at you," Alistair said.

Bunny could feel her cheeks getting redder. "Can I ask you something?" Bunny asked.

"Go ahead," Alistair said.

"Do you like me?"

"Bunny, you're my best friend-"

"I mean, in a romantic way."

Alistair visibly paled. "I wouldn't say...I mean...did Maddie tell you?" he finally asked, his eyes not meeting hers.

Bunny stared at him, her heart racing like, well, a rabbit's. Did he just admit to having feelings towards her? Was this really happening?

"Um," Bunny said, "Actually it was Kitty."

"Oh," Alistair still wouldn't meet her gaze. _Why wouldn't he look at her?_ "I'm sorry if this ruins our friendship."

Bunny stopped. He thought that she didn't like her back. _How could he think that?_ Of course, she liked him back.

"Alistair," Bunny said, "I want you to look at me." Alistair's eyes finally met hers, and Bunny took a deep breath. "I have had a crush on you since we were seven."

Alistair's eyes widened in surprise. "Since we were seven?"

"Yes."

He laughed nervously. "Well, I suppose that's a good thing, because I've had a crush on you since I was seven too."

Bunny smiled. "It's a great thing," she said.

Alistair returned the smile and scooted closer to her. "That's a wonderful thing," he said, "Absolutely wonderful."

Fifty feet above them, Kitty groaned and rolled over, which was an impressive fate seeing as they were suspended in midair. "Will they just kiss already?" she asked.

"Shhh," Maddie shh-ed her.

"I'm trying to listen," Lizzie said at the same time.

"They need to just get it over with already," Kitty said, "Kiss," she motioned with her hands to were Alistair and Bunny sat.

"These kinds of things take time," Lizzie scolded her without taking her eyes off of the couple. "It's a wonder they've gotten this far."

"That it is, Lizzie. That it is."


	12. The Hardest Thing in the World

"Come on, come on, come on," a small girl with dazzling blue eyes and straight brown hair streaked purple ran back and forth from the entrance to Ever After High to her parents.

Behind her, an older girl with black hair and purple eyes hidden behind glasses sighed. "Wishful thinking isn't going to make it go any fast, Joy," the girl said.

"Actually," Joy corrected, "I read that wishful thinking can make many things go faster, Maggie."

Now far behind them, their parents watched as the two siblings continued to bicker.

"They're getting so old," Dexter Charming commented to his wife.

"Yes, they are," Raven Queen-Charming agreed, "It seems like only yesterday we were dropping them off for there first day of spellementary school. Joy's going to be a freshman."

Dexter smiled. "We still have one left," he said glancing towards a twig thin eleven year old boy who's hands were glowing bright purple as he levitated both of his sisters' trunks off of the ground.

"That we do," Raven said.

She watched as Maggie ran off to join her cousin/best friend, Brick, who's blonde hair and wolf ears stood out in the crowd, making him an easy spot. Her other best friends(who were actually not related), Hopper Croakington the IV and Samantha Huntsman.

Joy was still bouncing excitedly, though she had started to annoy her brother, Gal(short for Gallant), instead. The boy's hands were turning a darker shade of purple with every one of Joy's words. Raven was about to go over and stop them when she head a familiar voice from beside her.

"Hey there stranger," a small woman with curly, crazy purple and teal hair said.

Raven smiled. "Hey, Maddie," she said, "Long time no see."

The shorter woman shrugged. "I've been a little bit busy," she said gesturing to the two boys standing behind her.

Well, standing was a relative term. They were actually floating several inches off of the ground. Both boys were short, like their mother. One of them had teal hair and the other had purple. They both had her crazy blue eyes and ability to do impossible things.

"It will be so quiet with the two of them out of the tea shop," Maddie said, "I just won't know what to do."

"That's what I was just saying to Dex," Raven said.

She was about to continue, but was interrupted by the sound of something whizzing quickly towards them. Both of the woman ducked as the trunks of Raven's daughters flew over their heads. They turned around to find a guilty looking Gal and a shocked Joy.

"I should probably go fix that," Raven said, "I don't want Headmistress White to have to give him a detention. He's not even in high school yet."

Maddie smiled. "Don't be too hard on him, though," Maddie said, "He has a better handle on magic than you did at his age."

Raven laughed. "I suppose he does." She walked over to where her two children were standing.

"Mom," Gal said, "before you do anything, let me just say-"

"It was Gal's fault."

"Hey! It want my fault. You were the one who made me do it!"

"I did no such thing!"

Raven sighed and shot an exasperated look at her husband. Sometimes, parenting was the hardest thing in the world.


	13. All Ya Need Is Love

Cupid had been giving dating advice since she was five. It had started with her cousin, Aphrodite, who-for the goddess of love-was pretty bad at speaking to boys. After that, Cupid had pretty much become a relationship expert without having ever been in one.

Then came Dexter. Tall, sweet, dorky Dexter Charming. Cupid liked dorks, because she had a huge crush on Dexter. He had friend zoned her without even knowing it. And that was okay. That was fine. He liked Raven, and Cupid wasn't one to get in the way of true love. She could handle a little crush.

It had all been going well until she had decided to tell her dad. ' _Hi dad, I have a crush on a mortal_ ' is, apparently, not what you say when you're a goddess-even the sixteen year old goddess of shooting arrows at people to make them fall in love.

"What are you thinking?" Cupid's dad exclaimed.

Cupid shrugged. "I don't know. He's nice, and sweet, and cute."

"There are plenty of gods that are nice, and sweet, and cute. Why couldn't you fall in love with one of them?"

 _Because most of them are my cousins, and that would be weird,_ Cupid thought, but she didn't say anything. The older generation liked to ignore the fact that practically everyone on Mount Olympus was related. If Cupid had fallen in love with her brother, everyone would be happy for her. It was seriously messed up.

Instead, Cupid turned around without saying another word to her father and marched out of the temple. She collapsed on a park bench not far from he temple.

"Oh, why did I have to be a goddess?" Cupid asked herself. "Why couldn't I have been a mortal?"

Mortals had it so much easier, and they didn't even know it. They were always running around in search of eternal life. Well, if they wanted it so badly Cupid would give it to them. Except, she couldn't.

"I don't know," came a voice from beside her on the bench, "being immortal not all that bad."

Cupid turned to find a skinny boy with ebony hair and skin the color of caramel sitting beside her. She had never seen him before on Mount Olympus and wondered, ever so slightly, what he was doing there, and why he was talking to her. Cupid was rejected by most of the teenage gods and goddesses. They said that she liked humans too much.

"Who are you?" she asked the boy.

He smiled revealing a row of very, very white teeth. "The names Horace, son of Horus."

"Horace, son of Horus? Wouldn't that be Horus II?"

Horace, son of Horus shook his head. "It's Horace with an A-C-E. Not Horus with an U-S."

"Right," Cupid nodded despite the fact that she was still a little unsure, "My name's Cupid."

"Nice to meet you, Cupid," Horace said. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking to yourself. Why exactly do you hate being immortal?"

Cupid felt her cheeks begin to burn. Of course, someone would overhear her talking to herself. There was no privacy on Mount Olympus. And of course that someone had to be a relatively cute boy around her own age.

"I don't think that eternal life is worth it when so many people die horrible deaths," Cupid said.

"Ah," Horace nodded, "You're the one that everyone was talking about. The romantic who likes humans."

It didn't surprise Cupid that her cousins had been talking about her behind her back, they did it all of the time. ' _Oh, there's a new kid in the neighborhood, better tell him about our freak cousin who goes to school with humans.'_

"I heard that you go to school down there," Horace said, "What's it like?"

"What's it like? You mean what's school like or what are people like?"

"Both, I suppose," Horace said, "I've never met a human before."

"You've never met a human before? How?" It surprised Cupid. Most gods relied on humans, even though they thought that they were better than them.

"You could say that I was a little sheltered growing up. I spent my entire childhood in the desert." Horace said.

"What? How?"

Horace shrugged. "Family problems," he said, and Cupid understood what he was talking about. Immortal families were more messed up than normal families. "So, what are they like?"

"You mean humans?" Cupid asked and Horace nodded. "I suppose that they're just like us. Though they like each other a whole lot more, and they try to respect each other's differences...well, most of them do. I think that they have a whole lot more love than gods do. I don't know if we're wired differently or what, but humans have giant hearts. Some of the biggest hearts I've ever seen.

They really want to live life to the fullest. Human parties are the best. Their music is so loud and lively, nothing like the classical ballads that we have up here. I don't think that I've met a single human that I don't like-though some of them are a real pain, sometimes."

Horace looked at her. "You love them," he stated.

Cupid shrugged. "Someone has to."

Horace smiled at that. "It's great to hear you talk about them," he said, "It makes me want to go to high school down there."

"Why don't you?" Cupid asked, "I mean there's no rules against you doing it."

Horace nodded. "Maybe I will," he said.

* * *

Two days later, Cupid found a familiar face smiling at her in the castleteria. She walked over to the table where Horace was sitting and set down her tray.

"Hey there," she said, "I see you took my advice and decided to give mortal s a shot."

"Yeah," Horace said, "And I'm glad that I did. They have so many different sports down here, and the people are all so nice. I should take your advice more often."

"Well, down her I give relationship advice," Cupid said, "So, if you need any of that, feel free to ask."

Cupid couldn't name the look that Horace gave her. "I will," he said, "You're great, by the way."

"Thank you," Cupid said, and excused herself from the table to go sit with her usual lunch group. She regretted leaving Horace by himself, but notice that Daring Charming and several other princes had gathered around to talk to him. Oh yeah, Horace would fit in just fine here.

"Hey, Cupid," Cupid looked up as Dexter Charming sat down next to her. "I was wondering if you could give me some relationship advice?"

Cupid expected to feel her stomach begin to drop as it did every other time that Dexter had asked her for relationship advice, but nothing happened. She stared at him, expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

"Sure," Cupid said, "What do you need?"

Just behind Dexter, Cupid saw Horace smile and wink at her. Cupid felt a small fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She smiled back.


	14. It Starts in the Toes

Cedar stared at her reflection in the mirror. The nose was a serious problem. It kept growing and growing since she had woken up, despite the fact that she wasn't lying. She could've been lying if she had wanted to, but Cedar had found that after years of telling the truth it just came naturally.

She hadn't fibbed once, but her nose just kept on growing. With ever word she spoke, it got a little bit longer. Soon, it would be as long as she was tall. She couldn't go out with her nose like this. She especially couldn't go to family Christmas.

"Hey, Cedar," her cousin, Oak, poked his head through the door, "are you coming?"

Cedar knew that her cousin couldn't see her nose from where he was standing. She could always lie to him and skip Christmas with the Wood family. But Cedar had never lied before. Oak would never believe her.

"I can't come," Cedar said without turning around.

"What?" Oak asked, "Why? You've never missed one of these before."

"I sick," Cedar said with a fake cough. It was horrible. There was no way that Oak would believe her.

"You're sick? Do you want me to call a doctor?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I could get Gram up here to-"

"I said, no!" Cedar shouted, turning around.

Oak looked at her, surprise etched on his face. Cedar winced, she hadn't wanted her cousin to see her extra long nose. _How could it all go so wrong?_

"Is it bad?" Cedar whispered.

"Is what bad?" Oak asked.

"My nose."

"It looks pretty normal to me," Oak said.

"Normal?" Cedar's hands flew to her face. Just as Oak had said, her nose was as normal as it had been the day she was born. But how? It wasn't possible. Her nose was supposed to get longer when she lied. How come it had shrunk?

"Cedar?" Oak's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I-"

"Your feet are glowing."

Cedar looked down at her bare, wooden feet. They were glowing with a strange golden light. She knew that they weren't supposed to do that.

"Oak? What's happening?"

Oak smiled, opening the door just enough so that the others in the house could hear him. "Mom, Dad, Grams, Uncle Pino, everyone, it's started," Oak shouted.

"It's started?" Cedar asked as the glowing worked its way up her legs and her body, "What's started?"

Whatever Oak said was drowned out by the sound of every single one of Cedar's family members running up the stairs. Cedar watched with clouded as they entered the room.

"Wow."

"It's happening."

"It wasn't like this for me."

"Are you sure that this isn't a curse?"

"Of course not. It's always like this."

Cedar was about to ask what was always like what, but her vision was blocked by the golden light. Suddenly, every part of Cedar's body was tingling in a way that it never had before. It felt strange-making it's way through her limbs with each beat of her heart. Cedar stopped. _Beat of her heart?_ Cedar's heart didn't beat, it was wooden.

As the glow faded, Cedar looked down at her arm. It was covered by smooth, splinter-free, dark skin. The same dark skin that she had yearned for for years.

She looked at her dad, and grandmother, and many cousins. The expression on her dad's face was priceless.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

Cedar glanced at Oak, who was grinning like an idiot. Technically, it was all his doing. She should probably thank him for that later.

Cedar smiled. "I told a lie," she said, "And it was horrible. I am never doing that again."


	15. A Beautiful Friendship

Madelyn Hatter, or Maddie for short, peered suspiciously at the building in front of her. Her father had said that it was a school, but it didn't look like a school. It's walls were grey, lacking any and all forms of color. There were many doors and window, but all of them were in line with each other. There was nothing crazy about this so called 'school'. In fact, it looked very, very boring. Maddie knew that she didn't want to go somewhere as boring as this 'school'.

Maddie glanced up at her dad. He was saying the weirdest things-talking about how she has to go to school for nine months. That's not how it works. Back home, Maddie only had to go to school for a day, it shouldn't be any different here.

But it was. And Maddie would have to get used to things not being as wondrous as she was used to.

"Good luck," the Mad Hatter said and bent over to kiss Maddie on the top of her head.

"Thanks," the eleven year old girl said. She turned back to the school and took a deep breath. "I'll see you at three, I guess." Maddie glanced back at her father one more time, before heading in to the 'school'.

* * *

Raven Queen was dreading the first day of school. This was mostly due to the fact that no one talked to her at school. Sure, she knew a few people, like Cedar Wood, but she wasn't great friends with anyone. Apple White practically told everyone not to befriend her. After all, she would be as horrible as her mother one day. That last thought scared Raven more than she cared to admit.

Climbing out of the carriage, Raven shouldered her book bag and entered the school. It was a difference school than the one that she went to last year. It was bigger, with huge ceilings that seemed to go on forever.

Raven glanced at her schedule, and made her way to her first class. Maybe this year, she could get by without drawing attention to herself. She didn't have to make friends, as long as everyone didn't hate her.

Raven sighed, being evil wasn't easy, not by a long shot.

* * *

Maddie made it to her first class two minutes before the bell rang. She glanced around the room, which was filled with all different kinds of people. There were tall people and short people(none as short as her though). There were people with ears too big, or noses too long, or smiles that were a little too dazzling. Maddie decided that she liked these people almost instantly.

Smiling, Maddie glanced around the room for a seat to take. There were a few available. The pretty blonde girl at the front of the class had a spare seat, and the purple skinned girl sitting in the very back of the class had a whole section of seats around her open. Maddie glanced from the blonde girl to the purple girl, before deciding to sit next to the purple girl. She looked line the kind of person that needed a friend.

Maddie set down her book(she only had one) on the desk right next to the purple girl, who jumped as Maddie did so.

"Hello," Maddie said, "I'm Maddie."

The purple girl glanced around for minute, as if she was trying to figure out who Maddie was talking to, which was silly. Maddie was obviously talking to her.

"Are you talking to me?" the girl asked.

Maddie laughed. "Of course I am, silly. Who else would I be talking to?"

The girl looked at the other people in the class. Almost all of them had stopped to stare at Maddie and the purple girl. _That's weird_ , Maddie thought, _people don't usually listen to other people's conversations. It's just rude._

"What are you doing?" the blonde girl in the front of the room asked Maddie.

Maddie sighed. _Why was everyone asking such stupid questions? Wasn't it obvious what she was doing?_

"I'm introducing myself to my new desk partner," Maddie told the blonde girl.

"Do you know who she is?" asked the blonde girl.

Maddie glanced at her desk partner, who was staring at the palms of her hands. Something about these people made her nervous.

"Of course I do," Maddie said, "She's my desk partner."

"Right," the blonde girl said, "But do you know who her mother is?"

Maddie stared at the blonde girl. Why did it matter who the purple girl's mother was? She was not her mother any more than Maddie was her father.

"Why does that matter?" Maddie asked.

"Because, she's evil," the blonde girl said, "Her mother was the evil queen."

Part of Maddie wanted to gasp. The evil queen was horrible. She had cursed all of Wonderland and forced Maddie out of her home. But the other part, the part that Maddie listened to, felt sorry for the purple girl. _How bad had it been to have the evil queen as a mother?_

"So what?" Maddie asked.

A gasp arose from the class just as the bell rang and the teacher walked in. Satisfied with herself, Maddie took her seat right next to the purple girl.

* * *

Raven studied the girl sitting next to her. She had said that her name was Maddie. Raven mused at how appropriate the name was, for the girl had to be mad to be talking to her. It was more than that, though. She hadn't cared when Apple had told her who her mother was. It was new, and a little bit strange.

"I'm Maddie," Maddie said again, "I didn't know if you heard me the first time, and even then I thought that you might have some trouble remembering it."

Raven laughed. "How could I have trouble remembering it?" she asked, "You're half mad."

"Thank you," Maddie said with a nod.

"I'm Raven, by the way," Raven said.

"It's nice to meet you," Maddie said as the teacher shushed them, giving them the stink eye. Raven laughed again. This was the start to a beautiful friendship.

"Yes, it is," Maddie said.

Raven looked at her, confused. "What is?"

Maddie shook her head. "The narrator said that this was the start to a beautiful friendship. I was agreeing."

"With the narrator?"

Maddie nodded like she was totally sane, which she wasn't. "Yep," she said, "With the narrator."

Raven just stared at Maddie. She was different, but, sometimes, different was good thing. Maybe this narrator(whoever they were) was right; this was the start to a beautiful friendship.


	16. 12 Years Later

Cerise took another swig from her water bottle as she entered the kitchen. She could feel the sweat and grime from her morning workout clinging to her like a second skin. She would definitely need a shower to wash all of that off before she went to work.

She set her water bottle down next to the sink and filled up two cups of coffee. She then walked over to the kitchen table where her husband was sitting, reading the morning newspaper.

"Hey there, Happily Ever After," Daring said as she set the cup of coffee down in front of him and took the chair just across from him.

"Hey yourself," Cerise said taking a sip of her coffee. It was cold. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Maybe I just wanted to see you," Daring said.

Cerise raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps," she said, "but that doesn't normally interrupt your beauty rest."

"My brother called to wish us happy anniversary," Daring admitted. "Though I did want to catch you before you headed off to coach a bunch of lousy bookball players."

Cerise smiled despite Daring's insulting her bookball team. After all, sometimes they were lousy.

"And," Daring continued on, "Dexter told me that he and Raven are trying for a kid."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Daring said, "I can't believe they're going to be the first ones in the family to have kids."

Cerise tried to hide her grin behind her cup. "I wouldn't say that," she said.

"You wouldn't?"

"No," Cerise said.

"Then what would you say?"

"I would say," Cerise said, pausing for dramatic effect, "that you are going to be a father in about eight months."

She laughed as Daring's jaw practically fell to the floor. "I'm going to be a father?"

"A great one," Cerise said.

"How could you not tell me this?"

"I only just found out yesterday," Cerise said, "Plus, I wanted to wait until today. Happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary indeed," Daring said, "You just wait until I tell everyone about this. My true love is having a beautiful baby Charming."

"The true love thing was never confirmed," Cerise commented.

"Well, if an evil witch ever poisons you I'll be the first one in line," Daring said.

"Please," Cerise scoffed, "I'm more likely to choke on one of your sister's scones."

"I'll still be the first one in line then," Daring said, "And if that doesn't work...well, it's a little too late to back out of it now."

"Don't worry, Daring," Cerise said, "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Not even in your wildest dreams?"

"Not even then."


	17. Marching Sets

"What in the world did you do to your hair?" were the first words that popped out of Raven Queen's mouth the Monday after school was released for the summer.

She looked at her best friend's previously blonde head. She had dyed it teal and put purple streaks in it. Raven knew that Maddie had been debating changing her hair color, _but teal?_ And it wasn't just ombré it was her entire head.

"I dyed it, silly," Maddie said as she pulled her flute out of her case and put it together.

"I can tell that," Raven said. "But why?"

Maddie shrugged. "I wanted a change. Blonde is so boring."

Raven wanted to say that Maddie's blonde hair had looked perfectly fine, but she knew that Maddie had changed it so that people would stop mistaking her for Apple. Even though Maddie was a head shorter than the other girl, people still came up to her all of the time, thinking that she was Apple. Raven supposed that it was because both of the girls played the flute.

"So," Maddie began as the two girls walked out to the band pad to join the rest of the band, "How was your summer?"

Raven laughed. "You mean the two free days that I got to enjoy before I was dragged back out here to march in the horrible sun?"

"Hey!" Maddie said, "You didn't have to sign up to be drum major."

Raven knew that she was right. Band was both of the girls life. How could they be in to anything else when band took up every spare minute of their time?

"I suppose that it was good," Raven said.

"Good," Maddie said with a smile, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a section to run."

Raven watched Maddie hop away to go join the rest of the flutes, Apple White was among them. Even though the girl was her fellow drum major, Apple tended to spend a lot of time with the flutes. Raven knew that it annoyed Maddie.

Raven's eyes scanned the rest of the band pad, smiling as she noticed several familiar faces. There was the pit captain(and Raven's crush), Dexter Charming, helping roll marimbas on to the band pad. His older brother, Daring, was on snare, bossing the rest of the drum line around. Dexter's twin sister, Darling, was standing at the back of the band pad with the rest of the color guard, a rifle in her hand. Up until Junior year, Darling had been just another flute player, then she had switched to guard and she was good. Wicked good. Better than Briar Beauty and her cousin, Rosebella, who had been doing it since freshman year.

Lizzie Hearts was gesturing over enthusiastically with her saber. Raven was sure that she was going to cut someone's head off with that thing. Hopper and Ginger had formed a wall of safety around themselves with their flags and were hiding behind them, while Kitty simply sat it the middle of the pavement, yawning.

Cerise Hood stood with the rest of the trumpets, looking incredibly bored as her cousin(of very, very distant relation, as she always said), Sparrow Hood, tried to explain the basic drill to the incoming freshmen. Raven could tell that he was failing. It didn't help that Hunter Huntsman kept making heart eyes at his girlfriend in the clarinets.

Leading the clarinets with her best friend, Holly O'Hair, was Ashlynn Ella. As opposed to her boyfriend's section, Ashlynn had everyone under control. Raven noted that several of them actually seemed exited to be at school on the first official day of summer.

Holly's twin sister, Poppy, was standing in the saxophones, nodding encouragingly as Cedar Wood nervously explained the drill. Cedar actually played oboe, but had switched to sax for marching season.

Raven couldn't help but laugh as she watched Alistair Wonderland and Bunny Blanc continuously find new tasks that brought them in close proximity to each other, despite the fact that Alistair played trombone and Bunny was a mellophone.

"Ms. Queen," Raven turned around to find the band director, Mr. Grimm, standing behind her.

"It's good to see you," Raven said nervously. The band director always scared her.

"I see that your friend changed her hair color," Mr. Grimm noted.

"Yeah," Raven said, "She's been talking about it for a while."

Mr. Grimm huffed. "Well, she will have to be able to hide it under her hat. Hair like that will not be tolerated in this band."

Raven wanted to point out that Mr. Grimm had never complained when a student had dyed their hair before, but decided against it. Instead she asked, "What's the show for next year?"

Mr. Grimm smiled. "Once Upon A Time," he said.

Raven felt her heart sink. Ever year that she had been in band, the show had been fairy tale based. It didn't matter that a million other bands did it too or that it was over done, Mr. Grimm chose a similar show every year. Raven wanted something new, something different, but she knew that she wouldn't get it.

"Isn't that what we did last year?" Raven asked.

"It is," Mr. Grimm said, "But last year it was Cinderella. This year it's Snow White. Doesn't that sound fun?"

Raven, somehow, managed to smile. "Of course it does," she said.

"That's what I thought," Mr. Grimm said and walked away.

Raven felt her eyes roll of their own will. She couldn't wait until they told everyone. No one would be happy, except, maybe, Apple-but she loved fairy tales. Raven, on the other hand, didn't. She always felt sorry for the poor characters. How much it must of sucked to be part of a fairy tale.


	18. Child-Free Food

Ginger Breadhouse surveyed the small bakery that was officially hers. It was tiny, and cramped, and really nothing more than a shack on the side of the road, but it was hers. After all the pain and hard work that she had had to do, Ginger's dream was finally a reality.

It was harder to find someone to sell her the space for a bakery than Ginger had thought that it would be. Apparently, no one wanted the daughter of Hansel and Gretel's witch to open up a bakery. But she had finally found an owner that was willing to sell her what she needed.

The shack was utilitarian. It wasn't cute like she had wanted it to be, but it would work. _Once business got started_ , Ginger promised herself, _she would upgrade_.

Ginger smoothed down her apron and walked over to the door, flipping the sign to open. Right next to the open sign sat another sign that read ' _all products are child free_ '.

Ginger made her way back to being the glass display case and waited for her first customer to arrive. Fifteen minutes later, a young woman with black and purple hair pulled in to a bun entered. Ginger smiled, she had never been best friends forever after with Raven Queen, but the girl had always fought for Ginger's dream. She appreciated that.

"Hello," Ginger said with a smile, "What can I get you?"

Raven eyed the display case. "A cinnamon roll," she decided, "And an explanation of the child-free food sign on the door."

"You can never be to careful. Everyone knows my story, I was just making sure that no one got the wrong ideas about my baking," Ginger said as Raven handed over the money and she handed her the cinnamon roll.

Raven nodded. "That makes sense," she said, "Anyways, thanks for the cinnamon roll. I have a job to get to."

Ginger watched as Raven disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Her first customer had been a friend from high school, she wondered who her second customer would be. Ginger's head shot up as the door opened.

"The sign on your door says that all of your food is child free," said the young man standing in the doorway, "But I was wondering if all of it was frog free."

Ginger smiled. Her first customer had been her friend from high school, it was only appropriate that her second was her crush from high school.

"All of our food is frog free, Hopper," Ginger said.

"Well, in that case," Hopper said, leaning against the counter, "I'll take a dozen cupcakes."


	19. Being Human

"I'm just saying," Cedar said sprawled across one of the many armchairs that occupied her cousin's studio apartment, "there were a lot of benefits to being made of wood."

Oak sighed as he rummaged through his drawer, looking for just the right tie. It couldn't be too tacky, but Oak was pretty sure that he didn't own a single normal tie. Everything he had was covered in music notes, or records, or French horns. Oak wondered why he even had a tie with French horns on it, it wasn't as if he played the instrument.

"I mean," Cedar continued, "whenever I broke my arm, I could just replace it. All that I had to do was carve a new one out of wood."

"That's a little creepy," Oak said as he pulled out a tie covered with rainbow records, "What do you think of this one?"

"Where do you even buy a tie like that?" Cedar asked.

"That bad?"

Cedar nodded and Oak returned to picking out ties. "Did you know that I didn't used to have periods? That's only a human thing."

"There's such a thing as too much information, Cedar," Oak said as he held another tie up to his neck, "Good?"

Cedar studied the music notes for a minute. It was the best one that he had showed her in the past hour. When he had called and asked for her help, she didn't think that he wanted her fashion advice. If she had, she probably would've said no.

"Here's an idea," Cedar suggested, "Don't wear a tie."

Oak stared at her like not wearing a tie was a foreign concept. "I can't do that," he said, "We're going dancing."

"She won't care what you look like," Cedar said, "Plus, it doesn't look very...you."

"What doesn't look very me?"

"The whole tie and suit thing. I don't think I've ever seen you dress up for something."

"You think she'll know that something's up?" Oak asked nervously.

"I think that she already knows," Cedar said, "You're taking her dancing. The last time that you did that it was for her birthday."

"That's unfair," Oak protested, "We go dancing all of the time."

"No," Cedar said, "You go clubbing. There's a difference."

Oak dropped the tie back in to the drawer and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. "You have no idea how nervous I am," he confessed. "Do you know how long it took me to gather the courage to ask her father?"

"Four years?"

"I'm so afraid that she'll say no."

"She won't," Cedar reassured him, "And if she does, then she's an idiot."

"You always know the right things to say," Oak said. He picked up a small black box off of his dresser. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Cedar said, "And try to form complete sentences around her."

Oak smiled. "I've gotten better at that over the years," he said.

"Yet you still talk in sentence fragments whenever she's in the same room," Cedar pointed out.

"It's endearing."

Cedar laughed. "That's not what Shrimpy called it," she said, "I believe that she said ' _you tire of it after the twentieth time...or, you know, the hundredth'_."

Oak nodded. "That sound like something that she would say."

"Well, she said it, so you're right there," Cedar quickly hugged her cousin, "Now, what are you waiting for, go ask Melody if she wants to spend Forever After with you."

Oak hugged her once more('for good luck', as he had said) and ran out the door. Cedar watched her cousin leave. There were a lot of benefits it being made of wood, she decided, you didn't get hurt as easily, and when you did, it was easily fixed. But the feelings of excitement, and love, and happiness...those were all heightened when you were human.

Being human wasn't so bad after all.


	20. Wedding Bells

Raven stared at her reflection in the purple mirror in front of her. She couldn't believe that the person in the mirror was actually her. She was wearing a white dress, with a sweetheart neckline, layers upon layers of shirts stacked upon each other, and purple trim around the hemline. She had originally thought that it would look ridiculous, but it was, as Blondie would say, just right.

"That's not a wedding dress," the voice of Raven's best friend forever after and her maid of honor, Maddie, cut through her thoughts, "It's lacking all the crazy color."

In the back of the room, Raven's soon-to-be sister-in-law shook her head. She shot Raven an apologetic look. "I've tried explaining to her that here wedding dresses aren't supposed to be colorful," Cerise said, "But as usual-"

"She's not taking any of it," Cedar finished for Cerise.

Raven smiled. Both Cedar and Cerise were Raven's bridesmaids. It hadn't taken much to get them to agree. In fact, Cedar had practically passed out from excitement. Both of the girls were dressed in purple-Raven's signature color with their hair pulled up in elaborate braids.

"That's because," Maddie said, plopping in to the dressing room chair, "it doesn't have any color."

"That's not how-"

"For your wedding," Raven interrupted, "You can have as many colors as you like."

Maddie made a face. "I'm not getting married," she said.

"Not getting married?" Cerise exclaimed, "But you're always talking about how you want to have kids."

"I do," Maddie said, "I've decided that I can just think those up."

"That's not how-" Cerise began, but was cut off by the sound of the door banging against the wall.

"Sorry, I'm late," Darling said, tugging her hair out of her ponytail. It fell perfectly around her shoulders.

Raven grinned. "Another proposal?"

"Yes," Darling sighed. As the sister of the groom, she had automatically become a bridesmaid, but Raven was glad to see her nonetheless. "They should know that I already have a boyfriend."

"Yes," Cerise said with a wolfish grin, "and he's proposed to you around seven times."

"Eight," Darling corrected her.

"Eight," Cerise repeated, "What do you have against getting married?"

"Last time I checked, Daring had to ask you to marry him four times before you agreed," Cedar pointed out.

Cerise shot her best friend a venomous glare the same time that Raven raised her hands. "That's enough arguing," she said, "this is my wedding day, and I want it to be perfect."

Darling cracked a grin. "Perfect? I believe Blondie already said that everything was just right."

"Really?" Raven asked, "Is she out there?"

"Yep," Maddie said, "And so are a lot of other people. Kitty, Lizzie, Alistair, and Bunny-"

"Apple and Humphry Dumpty-"

"Ashlynn and Hunter-"

"Briar, Hopper, and Ginger-"

"Rosebella, Cupid and her fiancé, what's-his-face-"

"Horace."

"Oak and Melody are out there. He's wearing the most dreadful tie with purple polka dots and yellow music notes. I told him not to wear it-"

"Anyone who's last name begins with a Char and ends with a ming-"

"Duchess and Sparrow-"

"Faybelle-"

"Who invited her?"

"Raven, duh."

"But she likes to crash parties. It's her thing-"

"I'll just assume that everyone's here," Raven interrupted her friends' ramblings.

Maddie nodded. "Basically!" she said. "The narrator even showed up."

The narrator didn't feel the need to explain to Maddie that they always showed up, it was their job.

"And," Cerise added, "Dexter is standing up there sweating like a sinner in church."

"But he has this idiotic grin on his face," Darling said, "So, it kind of ruins the whole sinner thing."

Raven couldn't help but smile at the thought of Dexter being more nervous than she was. It was typical of him.

"What are you waiting for?" Cedar asked, "Go get married already."

Raven started towards the door, then stopped.

"What is it?" Darling asked.

"Aren't you guys supposed to go out first?" Raven asked.

"Right," the bridesmaids quickly made their way out the door. Raven smiled as she followed behind them. This was already a wonderful day, and, if everything went correctly, it would be the best day of her life.


	21. Joy

Joy Charming's first day at Ever After High, the school that she had been waiting forever after to go to, started with a Science and Sorcery hextbook falling of her head, and it wasn't her hextbook either. It belonged to the, admittedly, cute boy with olive skin, curly blonde hair, and white wings that owned the locker right above Joy's.

"Oh my Ra," the boy said as he bent to pick up the hextbook, "I'm so sorry."

Joy just smiled at the boy. He looked to be about her age, and he was cute, Joy would admit that much. Almost everything about him was cute, from his perfectly heart-shaped face to his tee shirt that was in a language that Joy couldn't read. The only non-cute thing about him were his bright pink eyes, those were a little creepy.

"It's okay," Joy said, "I'm used to having things dropped on my head."

The boy stopped and stared at her. "You're used to having things dropped on your head?"

"Yeah," Joy said, standing up, "My brother likes to throw all sorts of things at us-most of them magical."

The boy grinned. "Siblings throwing things at you, I can understand that."

Joy smiled at the boy, unsure of what to do next. Unlike her sister, Maggie, Joy didn't have an easy time making friends. She wasn't charismatic, like her mom. Instead, she had inherited her dad's awkward genes. But, hey, at least she didn't have his eyesight.

"I'm Roman," the boy said, sticking out his hand.

Joy shook it. "Joy," she said.

"Thanks a nice name," Roman said and Joy blushed. "What's your first class?"

"Princessology," Joy said, silently cursing herself for taking the class. She should've known that there wouldn't be any cute boys in the class. Not that Joy had considered whether or not there would be any boys at all when she signed up for the class. Joy didn't thing about those kinds of things. "You?"

Roman held up his hextbook. "Science and Sorcery," he said, "I guess I'll see you later, then."

"Yeah," Joy said.

"See ya," Roman said, and with that, he walked down the hallway.

"Later," Joy said before going off in the other direction.

* * *

"So," came a voice from across the table, "How's your first day been so far?"

Joy looked up from the book that she was reading(a science fiction novel about werewolves and bounty hunters, and bounty hunters that were werewolves) to see her older sister, Maggie, and one of her cousin's, Brick. Brick and Maggie only a month apart and best friends because of that.

"Good," Joy said.

"Did you make any friends?" Maggie asked.

Joy thought about Roman. "Maybe," she said.

"That's good," Maggie said, "I didn't want you to just read books all year and not make any friends."

Joy wanted to tell Maggie that she had friends, but she knew that what Maggie was saying was true. Joy tended to stick closer to her books than to actual people. She knew people, she talked to them, but she didn't hang out with them all of the time. She wasn't a social butterfly like her sister.

Brick, who had been trying to read the title of Joy's book, finally gave up on the impossible and decided to just ask instead. "What are you reading?" he asked.

"Oh," Joy said, "It's a book about werewolf bounty hunters."

"That's racist," Brick said.

"No, it's not," Maggie said.

"I'm pretty sure that it is," Brick said, "Everyone keeps writing about werewolves, as if we didn't spend the past millennia being shunned."

"Oh, come on," Maggie said, "It's just a phase."

"I don't care if it's a phase," Brick said.

Joy silently watched the whole exchange. It wasn't an unusual sight, not by any means. Brick and Maggie were more like siblings than Joy and Maggie were. And she was fine with that. Joy just wished that she had someone who she could argue with over such trivial things. She just wished that she had a best friend.

* * *

Joy set down her backpack on the top of the table and glanced around the empty library. It was quickly becoming her favorite place to hang out, or, in this case, hide. She was glad that there was hardly anyone else in the library, and she knew that Starling Hood wouldn't come looking for her in here.

Joy wasn't quite sure what she had done to anger Starling, her new roommate at Ever After. She had to have done something, because the girl had taken an instant disliking to her. She would find the most trivial things wrong with Joy, like the way that she made her bed or how she had three different bookcases in the room, and then she would lecture Joy on how unprincessly it was to do those things. Starling wasn't even a princess.

Today, Starling had decided that she didn't like the way that Joy dressed, and she had decided to tell Joy that her converse and t-shirts were unprincessly. Joy couldn't take it anymore, so, she'd left.

"Hey," Joy looked up to find Roman had taken the seat across from her.

"Hey," Joy said, flipping through the pages of her hextbook.

"Is everything alright?" Roman asked.

Joy sighed. "My roommate hates me for no apparent reason."

"Really?" Roman asked, "Who's your roommate?"

"Starling Hood," Joy muttered.

Roman laughed. Joy looked up at him. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Starling only hates princesses. Are you one?"

"A Charming, actually," Joy said.

Roman nodded. "I should've figure that out," he said, "seeing as our lockers are right next to each other."

"What's your last name?" Joy asked, suddenly wanting to know more about Roman. She had figure that he was a fairy or something of that sort, seeing as he had wings.

"Cupid," Roman said, "Neither one of my parents actually have last names, so they decided to go with my mom's first name." He looked at the hextbook that Joy had stopped flipping through. "Science and sorcery?" he asked.

"Yeah," Joy said, "Apparently, we have a pop quiz tomorrow."

"On the second day of school?"

"That's what my sister said."

"Are you sure that she's not messing with you?" Roman asked.

"Not a chance," Joy said, "I heard Headmistress White discussing it some of the other staff members."

"In that case, do you mind if I study with you?"

"I don't know," Joy said, "Do you promise not to drop it on my head."

"Hey!" Roman protested, "That was one time."

Joy just smiled. "You can study with me," she said and Roman smiled back.


	22. A Truth Universally Acknowledged

"22B recently got new residents," Apple said as she pinned up her hair in to a complicated up do that Cedar would never be able to attempt, let alone replicate.

"That's nice," Cedar said, pulling on one of her only t-shirts that didn't have paint all over it. Cedar was a neat person, except for when it came to art. Paint covered almost all of the surfaces in the small apartment. At first, Apple had been livid, but she had learned to deal with it over the past year.

Once upon a time, Cedar had been rooming with Cerise, Raven, and Maddie, but Cerise had gotten married, and then Raven had gotten engaged. Now it was only Cedar and Maddie, but Maddie was in wonderland right now, so Apple had moved in to help pay rent. Cedar didn't know if she was going to stay, but it seemed like she was planning on it.

Apple worked with Cedar at Ever After High. She taught princessology. Cedar taught art. She didn't like it, but she had to pay the bills somehow.

Somedays, it seemed like Apple, Cedar, and Maddie were the only remaining single people of their graduating class. Not that Apple wanted to be single. No. Apple was almost always on the lookout for her knight in shining armor. Cedar, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less about knights.

"Don't you want to know what they're like?" Apple asked.

Cedar shrugged. "I guess?"

"It's a prince," Apple said, reapplying her already perfectly applied makeup, "by the name of Henry, he's the son of King Midas's daughter."

"So does that mean that he can turn things in to gold?"

"I don't think so," Apple said, "But how should I know, I haven't even met him. Oh! And he has a friend...Darvy, I think."

"Darvy?" Cedar laughed, "What kind of name is Darvy?"

"Laughing's not nice," Apple turned around to look at Cedar, "Are you really going to wear that?"

Cedar looked down at her purple shirt. "What wrong with it?"

Apple gave her a llook. "We're going to a party."

"It's only Cupid's engagement party."

Apple sighed. "Only Cupid's engagement party? Did you wear that to Raven's engagement party?"

"No," Cedar said, "but that was different."

"How?"

"It was Raven."

Apple shook her head. "This one isn't any different."

Fifteen minutes later, Cedar was standing on the steps outside of Cupid's house(it was more of a temple) wearing a dress that Apple had picked out for her. It was solid blue with a yellow belt. Cedar had worn worse.

The door was opened by Cupid's fiancé, Herman or something like that. Cedar was always forgetting what his name was.

"Horace!" Apple said with a smile on her face. Cedar nodded. Horace, that was what his name was. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Horace said. He opened the door for them to come in and Cedar walked in to the house as Apple talked to Horace.

Cupid and Horace's engagement party was nothing like what Raven's had been. Raven's had been a small gathering with a couple of friends, but this was a big event. Everything was heart themed-even the bar and dance floor. Cedar noticed several gods that she had only ever heard about, even Zeus was there...or was his name Jupiter? Was Cupid roman or greek? Cedar could never figure it out.

She scanned the room, looking for one of her friends. It had been so long since she had seen either of them. That wasn't completely true, she had gone to lunch with Cerise on Wednesday. She finally located them both on the dance floor with their significant others.

Cedar smiled and made her way to one of the tables located near the wall. She watched as the people around her talked and laughed. Parties had never really been Cedar's thing. She usually spent her entire night next to the snack table. Cedar searched the room for one.

"They don't have a snack table," Cerise said, making Cedar jump. Cedar was always amazed at how silently that girl could move.

Cedar laughed. "How did you know what I was looking for?"

Cerise sat down. "I've known you forever after," she said, "and you always spend events like these next to the snack table."

"I do not," Cedar protested.

"Oh, really? When was the last time that you actually danced at one of these events?"

Cedar tried to think of the last time she had honestly danced at a party. She had awkwardly danced a couple times during high school, and then there was that one blind date that Cerise had set her up on. She had danced then.

"It was the blind date, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Cedar admitted, "and that went horribly." The night had ended with Jack-her dance partner-telling her that he had had a fun time, as never calling her again. Cedar had found out a few days later that he was seeing someone else. "I'm not letting you do that again."

"Hey!" Cerise said, "How was I supposed to know that he had a boyfriend. He never told me."

"I'm still not letting you set me up again," Cedar said.

"Why not?" Cerise asked.

"Because, you have horrible taste in guys," Cedar said.

"Who has horrible taste in guys?" Cedar felt the need to bury her face in her hands. Of course, Daring Charming would find the perfect moment to join their conversation.

"You...I-I didn't-"

"Hey, Cedar," Cedar let out a sigh of relief. She had never been more happy to see Apple White than she was in that moment. "The guys who moved in to 22B are here. I want you to meet them."

Normally, Cedar would've refused Apple because it was obvious this was:

a) an attempt to set Cedar up

or

b) a chance to get her to play wingwoman,

but, right now, Cedar would take any excuse to get away from Mr. and Mrs. Charming.

"I'd love to," Cedar jumped up from her chair and hooked her arm through Apple's, dragging her away from the table.

Apple studied her curiously. "That was weird," she said.

"I may have, accidentally, insulted Daring Charming."

Apple looked sorry for her. "Did he realize it?"

"Thank goodness, no," Cedar said as she and Apple came to a stop next to the bar, where to guys were standing. The first was a tall, broad shouldered man with startling green eyes and close cropped blonde hair. He was wearing gloves. The second was slightly shorter than his companion with hazel eyes, brown hair, sideburns, and weirdly sharp cheekbones.

"I told you that it would only take a second," Apple said with an ease and familiarity that Cedar would never be able to replicate. "Cedar, this is Prince Henry and Mr. Darcy."

"It's nice to meet you," Cedar managed to say before Apple started talking again.

"Believe it or not, I was talking to Henry and they just moved in to the exact apartment building that we live in. Isn't that so strange?"

Cedar had to stop herself from bursting out laughing. "Yes," she said, "What a coincidence."

"I know," Prince Henry said, "and, Apple, being the kind person that she is, invited us over for diner tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Of course I did. I couldn't let these two lovely gentlemen starve, could I?"

"We wouldn't starve," Mr. Darcy spoke for the first time.

His friend shot him a look. "Of course we would," Henry said, "James and I are terrible cooks."

Cedar watched as Henry and Apple continued to talk on and on about everything; the weather, politics, last months issue of Science Weekly, the weather, some more politics, growing up in a castle, next week's forecast, the weather.

"They do seem to talk a lot about the weather," James Darcy commented, watching the two royals converse.

"I swear, she isn't normally like this."

"Neither is he," James said, "Normally, all that he talks about is science. He seems to think that everything can be explained by science, even though he can turn things in to gold simply by touching them."

"So, he's actually King Midas's grandson, then?"

"Yes," James said, "I can't tell you how many times I've been asked that tonight. You lot seem to be obsessed with your parents."

"It's kind of our thing," Cedar said, "A lot of people around here are about carrying on our ancestors stories."

"What's your story?"

"Pinocchio," Cedar said casually.

James stared at her in disbelief. "You're telling me that you were a puppet?"

"More like, made out of wood," Cedar said, "for a very, very long time."

"So, how did you become a real girl?" James asked.

"It's a long story. One that involves most of my extended family and telling a lie. What's your story?"

James grinned. "I don't have one," he said.

"How?"

"I'm not from around here. Where I come from, everything is stuffy and classic. None of the wild magic that you guys have here."

"Wild magic?" Cedar laughed. "You obviously haven't been to Wonderland."

"No," James admitted, "but I have heard a great deal about it. It seems so strange."

"It is," Cedar said, "but it's totally worth it."

"Well, then, I'll put it on the list of things to do."

"I can take you," Cedar said before she could stop herself. She didn't know why she said it. Perhaps, it was because she was actually enjoying spending time with James Darcy, and she should probably get to know him better if how things seemed to be going with Henry and Apple were any indicator. "I have a friend who's from there, and I'm sure that she'd be happy to have us for tea."

"I'd love to," James said.

Cedar smiled and the two of them continued to talk for the rest of the evening. They talked about their jobs, roommates, interests. James, also, appeared to be a great admirer of the arts. He really liked to cook(he had been a chef for a period of time), which made Apple inviting them over for dinner even weirder.

By the time the party was over it was almost midnight, and both of the boys insisted on walking Apple and Cedar home. Finally, they said their goodbyes and Apple closed the door behind them. She let out a sigh.

"They're just absolutely perfect, aren't they?"

Cedar shrugged. "They seem nice," she admitted.

"Oh, come on," Apple said, taking off her heels, "You're practically head over heels for Mr. Darvy."

"It's Darcy," Cedar said, "And, I'm not head over heels for anyone."

Apple raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Cedar said, and she meant one hundred percent of it. Well, not one hundred percent, more like eighty-five. Fifty, if she was being honest with herself.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly!" Cedar said, and she flopped down on their couch. Why was Apple so interested in her love life, anyways? _So what if she found James to be interesting?_ That didn't mean that she liked him.

So maybe, it was more like twenty five percent, but no lower than that.

No lower.


	23. Romance

Romance Cupid, more commonly known as Roman for a multitude of reasons, pulled his hextbook out of his full sized locker. It was the same one that he'd had since the beginning of Senior year, and, while he was glad that he could now fit all of his things in to his locker, he missed the old one. More specifically, he missed dropping things on his best friend's head.

Over the past three years, Roman had dropped more items on Joy's head than he could remember. The first time it had been on purpose. He couldn't think of a way to talk to the cute girl who had the locker right under him, so he'd dropped his book on the floor. It had ended up hitting her head.

For some reason, Joy didn't hate him for that. In fact, it became an inside joke, and whenever it happened they would laugh about it. The two had quickly become best friends, even though they were an odd pair. Joy was smart, pretty, and introverted, while Roman was the biggest extrovert at Ever After High.

He had dragged Joy to social event after social event. She would usually stand in the corner and refuse to dance with anyone until he was blue in the face from trying to get her to, but even that was fun.

They hung out together, just the two of them, as well. In fact, they hung out so much that some people thought that they were a couple. A conversation with either of them would correct that, 'not a couple, just best friends'. No matter how much Roman wanted it to be otherwise, it was always that way.

"I went to Headmistress White to ask for a different roommate," Joy said as she yanked open her locker, "And do you know what she said?"

Roman didn't answer. Joy just wanted him to listen whenever she was ranting.

"She said, 'It will be good for you to room with someone you're not best friends forever after with'. This is all because Lily graduated a semester early. If she had just stayed for the rest of the year like a normal person, then we wouldn't be having this problem."

Roman laughed. "This is your problem, not mine," he said.

Joy crossed her arms and stared at him. "Oh, really?" she asked, and Roman got the feeling that he was going to regret saying that. "Do you remember what happened freshman year whenever we tried to hang out?"

Unfortunately, Roman did. He also didn't want that to happen again. The last thing that he wanted was for Starling Hood to butt in on each and every one of their conversations whenever he was in the room. He was aloud to hang out in his best friend's room, and Lily hadn't had a problem with it, but Starling would. That, or she'd try to kiss him again. He couldn't decide which one was worse.

It wasn't that Starling was unattractive. In fact, she was quite beautiful, with long red hair and grey eyes. But no amount of outer beauty could erase her tendency to put people down when they didn't agree with her. And Joy didn't agree with her a lot.

"Do you want that to happen again?" Joy asked.

"No," Roman said, closing his locker. "We could always hang out at the library, or at parties."

"I hate parties," Joy said.

Roman knew this. It was a fact that Joy repeated at least four times a week.

"I'm just so..." Joy tried to search for the right word.

"Angry?"

"Frustrated," Joy said.

"Why don't you just ignore her?" Roman suggested. He started to walk towards Science and Sorcery and Joy joined him.

"Been there, tried that," Joy said, "And it's not just that she hates me. It's like she's trying to get close to me to-"

"Yoo-hoo!" came a voice that resembled that of a bird's. A really annoying bird.

"Quick," Joy said, "Do something."

"What?"

"I don't care. Anything."

Roman grabbed Joy's hand and dragged her down the nearest corridor, trying to ignore the tingling feeling that ran through his arm as he did so. Without thinking, he pulled her in to the boy's locker room. Thankfully, it was empty.

Holding their breath, they listened as Starling's footsteps echoed through the hallway outside until they disappeared entirely. Roman glanced over at Joy. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

Joy sighed. "She's trying to be my friend."

"That's a good thing, right?" Roman wasn't quite sure how Starling no longer hating Joy was a bad thing.

"No," Joy said, "The only reason that she's trying to be my friend is so that she can hang out with you?"

"Why would she do that?"

"Sometimes, you're really thick," Joy said, "It's because she likes you."

"Oh," Roman didn't know what to think of that.

Roman was not as thick as Joy thought that he was. He knew that he was attractive, it was just one of those things that came along with being a god. He also knew that there were plenty of girls that liked him-a couple of them even managed to work up the courage to ask him on a date. He alway turned them down nicely.

It wasn't that Roman didn't like the girls that asked him, most of them were very nice and polite. It was simply that Roman had had a crush on his best friend since he had met her. There was something different about Joy. Roman supposed it was the way that she made him feel. Complete. Happy.

"Wait," Joy said, "Do you like her?"

"No," Roman said quickly.

"Why not?" Joy asked, "She's pretty, and a great singer."

"You don't like her either," Roman said, "So, don't get all defensive."

"Who do you like, then?"

Roman stared at his friend. Why did she care who he liked all of a sudden? She'd never had any interest in his relationships before.

"I mean, everybody likes someone," Joy said, sounding like his mother.

"Yes," Roman said.

"Yes, you like someone?"

"Yes," Roman said again.

"Who?"

Roman didn't answer.

"Fine," Joy said, "I'll figure it out myself."

Roman watched Joy as her mind went through the possibilities of the girls in their grade. He wondered if the idea that it could be her ever crossed her mind. Probably not. Joy was oblivious to anything that had to do with other people liking her.

Joy sighed. "Can you give me a hint?"

"No," Roman said.

"Please, please, please." Joy begged, "Just one?"

"Fine," Roman said, "It's a girl."

"Wow," Joy said sarcastically, "I didn't know that already. Give me a real hint."

"She's a princess," Roman said.

"Okay," Joy said, "That narrows it down to about half of the population. Can you give me a better hint?"

"I already gave you a hint." Roman said.

"No, you didn't," Joy protested.

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you-"

"Mr. Cupid, Ms. Charming, is there a particular reason that the two of you are sitting on the floor of the boy's locker room?" Roman's head snapped up to find the doorway occupied by Headmistress White, her face kind yet terrifying at the same time.

"Um..." Roman began.

Thankfully, Joy came to his rescue. "My brother said that he left his spell book on the floor, but, as usual, it seems like it was all just a prank. I'm so sorry if we caused any kind of trouble."

Roman stared at Joy, speechless. He could never get over how the quite Joy Charming could come up with a believable story in mere seconds.

Headmistress White turned to him. "Is that right, Roman?"

Roman stopped looking at Joy, his eyes focusing on the headmistress. "Yep. You know Gal. I honestly don't understand why we still believe him at this point."

Headmistress White studied them for another moment. "Okay," she said, "I believe you, but I'm still informing your parents. This is the first time that the two of you have been caught sneaking around. Make sure that it doesn't happen again." She nodded to them and left like she was leaving a throne room and not a stinky boys locker room.

Once they could no longer hear her heels, Joy turned to him. "Do you think that she meant never sneak around again or never get caught again?"

"The latter," Roman said.

"That's what I thought too," Joy said. Standing up and dusting off her jeans, she offered him a hand and pulled him up. "Oh," she said, "and don't think that I've forgotten about your confession. You finally admitted that you like someone. I will get to the bottom of this."

Roman smiled. He doubted that Joy would get to the bottom of her mystery, but part of him wanted her to. Part of her to figure it out all. Maybe he'd hide clues for her, Joy loved that sort of thing. He glanced at his friend at the walked out of the locker room, ignoring the stares. No doubt, some freshman would think that they were in there kissing. Maybe he'd just tell Joy. No. That'd be too easy.

"Good luck," Roman said, " You're going to need it."

"In your dreams, Roman," Joy said.

"Yes, you are," Roman muttered under his breath.

Joy snorted.


	24. Dave from the Record Store

The Pied Piper had never approved of his daughter's tattoo, which, he figured, was why she got it in the first place. Melody was rebellious by nature, so it didn't surprise him when she told him that she had taken the side of the rebels. It didn't surprise him when she decided to become a DJ. It certainly didn't surprise him when other teachers told him that his daughter didn't pay attention in their classes. In fact, the Pied Piper believed that at this point there was nothing that Melody could do or say that would surprise him.

He was wrong.

"I have a boyfriend," Melody said on one of her regular Sunday visits.

The Pied Piper dropped his spoon in his oatmeal. He retrieved it and wiped it off with the edge of the table cloth. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Melody said, "I just thought that you might want to know."

"You thought correctly," her father said, "Does your mother know about this?"

Melody nodded.

The Pied Piper sighed. Melody had never been close to either of her parents. She resented her father for giving her a strange destiny, and she resented her mother for leaving her father. The fact that she had told her mother before him surprised the Pied Piper, but not as much as the fact that she had a boyfriend.

"Aren't you a little young to have a boyfriend?"

Melody shrugged. "Plenty of people my age have significant others."

"Yes," the Pied Piper said, "but most of those people are..." he trailed off.

He had been about to say princesses, which would've been correct. Many of the people that dated at Ever After High were royalty. Melody had never shown any interest in anyone before, but if she wanted to date someone, she could date them. The Pied Piper wanted to believe that whoever she was dating was a perfectly respectable young man, but, knowing Melody, he was probably some rebel.

"I want to meet your boyfriend," he demanded.

Melody swallowed. "Yeah. Sure. That's fine."

* * *

"My father wants to meet you." Oak tripped over the top stair of the DJ platform. He glance at Melody, his girlfriend. His totally awesome, beautiful, clever, funny girlfriend-who's dad now wanted to meet him.

"Um..." Oak had been expecting this eventually. One could not avoid their significant other's family forever...no matter how much they wanted to. "When does he want to meet me?"

"He told me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow, if you can make it. You can, right?" Melody stared at him as he unloaded his records, carful not to make eye contact with her.

"Yeah," he said, "That's fine."

"Good," Melody said, "And you don't have to be scared."

"Scared? Why would I be scared? I mean, he's just the Pied Piper, and my girlfriend's dad. Why would I be scared? Should I be scared?"

"Probably not."

"Probably?"

"Yeah," Melody said, "Probably."

* * *

Oak tugged on the collar of his shirt and stared nervously at the apartment door in front of him. It was a rather normal apartment door, one that told him absolutely nothing about Melody's father, or what kind of person he was, or if he even was a person.

He had heard of the Pied Piper. After all, he was a member of the fairytale community, even if he was a destiny-less one. The stories varied. Cedar said that he was slightly terrifying. Melody said that he was mostly harmless. Mostly.

Oak had never gone to Ever After High, so this was the first time that he was meeting the man, and he was terrified. Absolutely, totally terrified.

Oak readjusted his tie and knocked.

* * *

Melody heard the knock on the door and glanced at her father. He was staring at the door like he was going to kill the next thing that came through it. Melody hoped that he wouldn't.

"Be nice," she said, shooting her father a look.

The Pied Piper hurumphed. "I'm your father. I'm not supposed to like your boyfriend."

Melody rolled her eyes. "Just don't try to kill him," she said, opening the door.

Oak was standing in the doorway, looking like he might pass out. He was wearing a navy blue blazer with khaki pants and a collared shirt underneath. A colorful tie with trumpets on it hung around his neck. Even if the tie was the weirdest one she'd ever seen, Melody had never seen Oak dress fancier.

"Don't be scared," she smiled at him.

"Scared?" Oak asked, "I'm not scared." He didn't sound that convincing.

Melody pulled Oak through the door, praying that her father didn't hex him the moment that he entered the house. The Pied Piper didn't do much magic, but that didn't mean that he couldn't hex his daughter's boyfriend if he wanted.

Melody took a deep breath. "Dad," she said, "This is my boyfriend-"

"Oak?"

Melody was about to say something, but Oak beat her to it. "Dave?" he asked.

Melody stopped. "Dave?" she asked. She glanced at her father, who was looking at her almost sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell me you were dating Oak Wood?" he asked.

"I did," Melody said, "I told you..." She trailed off as she tried to think of when she specifically told her father that she was dating Oak. "Wait a second, who's Dave?"

"I am." the Pied Piper said as Oak said, "He is."

Melody shook her head. "No, it's not. Your name's Pied."

Her father laughed. "No, it's not, honey. My name's Dave. I just happen to be the Pied Piper."

"What?"

* * *

Oak could tell that Melody was having a little trouble with the fact that her father's name was Dave. Oak was having trouble with the fact that her father was Dave, as in, Dave from the record store where Oak worked during high school. Dave who had gone on several dates with his mother before they both decided that they were too different to ever logically work.

"How do you two know each other?" Melody asked, finally getting over the her father's name.

"Oak sells records," Dave said as if that explained everything. Obviously, it didn't.

"Your dad was a regular at the record store I work at during the summer," Oak explained. He didn't mention the fact that Melody's father had also gone out with his mother when he was a freshman. No. That was just all kinds of awkward.

Melody nodded. "Oh," she said, "that makes sense."

Oak smiled at his girlfriend as her father seemed to notice what he was wearing for the first time. "Is that a rainbow trumpet tie?" Dave asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, then," Dave said, clapping his hands together, "Who wants dinner?"


	25. Damsel in Distress

Chase Redford was a big fan of his head. He liked it. It had a good shape, and a full head of hair. People had often called his face attractive, and that was a part of his head. Chase's favorite thing about his head was the fact that it was attached to the rest of his body...at least, for now.

It was stupid, really it was, but Chase couldn't stop thinking of the white knight, or, as everyone else had called her, Darling Charming. He was surprised, to say the least. Chase didn't know any princesses that enjoyed swordsmanship. He had simply assumed, like every other member of the male gender, that princesses liked girly things.

Chase knew Lizzie Hearts(at least, he'd heard of her from Courtly Jester), and he knew that Lizzie liked girly things such as croquet and beheading things. Raven Queen, Lizzie's friend, had also liked girly things, despite her protests. It had been obvious to Chase the moment that he'd seen them that Apple White and Briar Beauty were princesses in every aspect of the word.

Then along came Darling Charming. When Chase first met her, he hadn't even known that she was a girl. To him, the white knight had simply been a great fighter(and a half-way decent dancer as well). He'd decided, when he was fighting the knight, that he wanted to be the friend of this skilled swordsman. When it was revealed that the white knight was a girl, Chase simply couldn't believe it. Darling Charming was like something out of a dream, and that dream was what got Chase in trouble.

He didn't exactly know how it had happened, but somewhere in the middle of daydreaming about Darling Charming and her glorious hair, Chase took a wrong turn on the way home. Instead of realizing it and turning around, he had continued on. He had walked and walked until he finally realized that he was lost. Being the sensible young knight that he was, Chase decided to ask for directions. He had asked a rather reasonable looking man with a white beard. What he hadn't counted on was for the man to be a white pawn for the white queen, the sworn enemy of the Reds. Nor has Chase expected the pawn's friends to be only a shout away.

Which was how Chase found himself bound and gagged and tied to a tree, while the pawn and his two friends, a rook and a bishop, planned to permanently separate his head from his body.

"We should do it quickly," said the bishop, "before someone finds out what we're doing."

"And what do you think they'd do if they did?" asked the pawn in a nasally voice, "He's a Red and he's in our part of the woods. No one would be able to stop us."

"But he's the Queen's son," the bishop said.

"Then we'll be sending those bastards a message by dropping off his head in a box," the pawn said. His friends laughed, making Chase very uncomfortable. As previously stated, he was extremely fond of his head.

"Let's get on with it then," the rook said, "We haven't got all day."

The three advanced towards Chase. He tried to move, but he couldn't. The ropes were too tight. He couldn't speak either. There was nothing that Chase could do. He watched as the rook drew his sword and lifted it. Chase cursed his stupidity and his daydreams. If he had been paying more attention, he never would have gotten himself in to this situation, and now he was going to die. He closed his eyes shut as the rook swung his sword, praying that death would come quickly, but it never did.

"What do you three think you are doing?" a voice that was familiar spoke. Chase opened his eyes to find the rook's sword right in front of his face, blocked by another sword. His eyes scanned the weapon until they found it's owner. If Chase hadn't been gagged, he would've breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do _we_ think _we're_ doing?" the rook asked, "What do _you_ think _you're_ doing?"

"Yeah," the pawn pitched in, "His kind deserve to die. You'll have to fight us if you think otherwise."

Chase could hear the smile on Darling's lips as she spoke, "I thought you'd never ask," she said.

It didn't take her more than five seconds to disarm the three white players. It took her another five to knock them unconscious. Chase watched as she did so, with a grace that he'd never seen before. He didn't know how she did it, but Darling Charming made fighting look as pretty as ballroom dancing.

When all three of them were tied together, Darling removed her helmet and knelt down next to Chase. Her hair fell down her back in ringlets, framing her face perfectly. With one swift cut, she freed Chase from his bonds. Chase pulled the gag off.

"Thanks," he said.

Darling smiled and it made Chase's insides melt. "Think nothing of it," she said, "You're lucky that I was in the neighborhood."

Chase nodded and picked up his sword from where the white players had been keeping it. He turned back to Darling to find her looking at him. "Is there something you need?"

"How'd you get yourself in that mess in the first place?" Darling asked, "It's not like you to get distracted."

Chase felt a blush creep up his cheeks. "I just...my mind was elsewhere. I wasn't paying attention."

"That much is obvious," Darling said, gesturing around them.

Chase laughed nervously. "Thank you again. I would've lost my head if you hadn't shown up."

Darling smiled. "We just couldn't have that, how could we? Imagine what your fans would say."

"What fans?" Chase asked.

"Your fans at Ever After High. You'll find that, since we all came to Wonderland, a lot of girls have been talking about you. I even think they started a fan club."

"A fan club?"

"Yeah."

"Who's in this fan club?"

Darling shrugged. "Like I would know," she said, "the point is that you have one. It shouldn't be much longer before you start receiving marriage proposals."

"Do you get marriage proposals?" Chase asked, curious as to how many admirers she had at Ever After.

"Do I?" Darling laughed, but didn't answer the question, choosing to change the subject instead. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

"I think I can handle it on my own," Chase said.

Darling raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to walk you home anyways," she said, "After all, a good knight always walks the damsel home."

"I'm not a damsel," Chase said.

"You so are."

"I am not!"

"I found you tied to a tree," Darling pointed out.

"I was temporarily occupied!"

"They were about to kill you."

"I would've taken care of that!" Chase protested.

"You would've been dead two times over without me," Darling said.

"Fine." Chase admitted. It was true. After all, Darling had saved his bacon. She was a good fighter, so he'd let her walk him home. Not because he was a damsel, simply because she was a good fighter, and he could appreciate that.

Darling Charming may have been a knight in shining armor, but Chase Redford was not a damsel in distress. Not in a million years.


	26. Sherwood Schemes

"I'm just saying," Marian said, throwing her tray on to the lunch table, "I beat you fair and square-"

"First of all," Grace interrupted before her friend could say more, "You didn't beat me. You received an A. I received an A plus-"

"Potato, patata," Marian said.

Grace glared at her. "And second of all, I can't just ask him out."

"You can't ask who out?" Red asked, setting her tray down next to Grace's and taking a seat.

Red was a petit girl with brown eyes and black hair cut in a bob. She didn't look very threatening, but, like with Grace, looks could be deceiving. The girl acted shy and quiet, but when the three of them were alone, the real Red was revealed-the Red that didn't follow the rules. The Red that enjoyed going in to the darkest parts of the forest.

"Dashing Charming," Grace said.

"Why would you ask Dashing Charming out?" Red asked.

"Because-" Grace sighed.

"Because I got an A on my DID exam," Marian said proudly.

Red laughed. "That's a new one. But I don't see what this has to do with Grace asking Dashing out."

"I made a bet with Marian-" Grace began, but Marian cut her off.

"She said that if I got an A on my DID exam then she would ask out Dashing Charming," Marian said.

"Will you stop interrupting me?" Grace asked.

"Sorry," Marian apologized.

"So," Red said, "I'm guessing that Marian wants you to ask him to Thronecoming. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"And you can't do that because it's not princess like to ask out a prince?"

"Yes," Marian said.

"You guys are missing the point," Grace said, "Maybe, I don't want to go to Thronecoming with Dashing."

"Why not?" Marian asked, "Has someone else asked you that you would like to go with?"

Both Red and Marian knew that Grace had already turned down about ten Thronecoming invitations, half of those had included marriage proposals.

"Can you let it go?" Grace asked.

Marian stared at her friend. There was no way that she was going to get Grace to ask out Dashing of her own free will. The good thing was that Marian was very good at getting Grace to do things that she wouldn't normally do. Though, she might need a little help from a certain red haired archer. The very thought made Marian want to hurl, but she'd do it. For Grace.

"Fine," Marian said after a moment.

Grace let out a sigh of relief and tried to direct the conversation away from herself and certain members of the Charming family.

"So," she asked Red, "who do you want to go to Thronecoming with?"

Grace could've sworn that she saw Red's eyes flick two tables over to where Bad Wolf was sitting. Grace shook her head, that couldn't be right. It was probably just a trick of the light.

* * *

"So," Robin said, leaning against his locker in the boy's locker room, "Who are you asking to Thronecoming?"

Dashing looked up from the book that he had been reading. "Why do you care?" he asked.

The shorter boy shrugged. "I just thought that, perhaps, you had finally gotten the courage to ask Grace out on a real date."

Dashing glared at his roommate. "I do not like Grace," he said.

"See," Robin said, "you say that every time, but, for some strange reason, you come with me every time I mention her name. You do realize that half of the time I'm lying about it, right?"

"I will remember that for future reference," Dashing said, trying to return to his book.

Robin sat down next to him, and closed Dashing's book. "There's no reason to get mad, Dash," he said, "You two are probably the most sensible couple in the whole school."

Dashing laughed. "What about Marian? Last time I checked, she was supposed to be your damsel."

Robin's expression filled with disgust. "That was before she went all 'off script'," he said.

Dashing eyed his friend suspiciously. Robin liked Marian, he had no doubt about that. The boy just insisted on denying it, just as Dashing did with Grace.

He actually had a crush on Grace-he'd had one since sixth grade-but he knew that she wouldn't like him. Not the real him anyways. The Dashing Charming that was less interested in sports and more interested in his studies. The Dashing Charming that wanted to help people with his brains and not his brawn. No one liked that Dashing Charming.

Grace followed the rules. She might've been able to like the fake Dashing Charming, but the real Dashing? She wouldn't be able to like that Dashing, and he couldn't be with anyone that didn't like the real him.

"I'm going to die alone," Dashing groaned in to his hands.

"You're joking, right?" Robin asked.

"Of course he is," Bad Wolf said as he entered the locker room. He threw his backpack into his locker and tugged off his shirt.

Bad had been later and later to practice ever day over the past month. When asked about it, he just said that he had gotten lost or had gone for a run. It wasn't unusual for Bad to go for runs during the middle of the school day, but they kept getting more and more frequent. Dashing knew that something was up, but he wasn't Bad's favorite person, so he didn't say anything.

"Every girl wants to go to Thronecoming with Dashing Charming," Bad somehow made it sound like a bad thing.

"Thanks for your opinion," Dashing said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Robin snarked, "Do you even have a date to the dance?"

Bad shrugged. "I'm going stag," he said.

"Maybe I could do that," Dashing said.

Robin shook his head. He'd have to take things in to his own hands if he wanted his friend to be truly happy. The only downside to his plan was that it involved Marian. Robin couldn't stand the brunette, but he'd work with her. For Dashing's sake.

* * *

Marian stared at the door in front of her. She didn't have to do this. She could turn around and head back to her dorm room if she wanted to. Marian shook her head. This is for Grace, she reminded herself and knocked on the door.

Dashing Charming opened the door. He stared at her for a moment before remembering his manners. "Um," he said, "Is there something that I can help you with?"

"Yes, there is," Marian said, "Is Robin here?"

Dashing blinked a few times before a slow smile made its way across his face. As he turned around, Marian noticed the mischievous glint in his eye. "Hey, Rob," he said, "there's a girl here who wants to see you."

Marian wondered what Dashing was up to. Robin knew who she was. It was possible that Dashing didn't know her name, but she sat next to him in Science and Sorcery last year. He was the reason that she hadn't failed.

From inside the room, Robin's voice rang out. "Is she hot?"

"She's definitely cute," Dashing said. This was followed by the sound of Robin rushing to the door. He came to a stop as he noticed that it was only Marian.

"Oh," he muttered, "It's you." He was about to turn back to the room, but Dashing pushed him out the door, locking it behind him. "Dash!" Robin protested. He pounded on the door, but Dashing wouldn't open it. Marian couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Robin asked.

"You," Marian said. Before Robin could retort, Marian swallowed her pride and said, "I need your help."

Robin stopped. "You need my help?"

Hearing Robin say it, made Marian cringe. "Let me rephrase that," she said, "I want you to help me to get Dashing to ask Grace to Thronecoming."

Robin let out a laugh. "That's not going to happen," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Robin paused, "Dashing's not going to ask Grace out."

"Why not?" Marian asked, starting to get offended, "Does he not like her?"

"It's not that."

"Then, what is it?"

"I can't tell you!"

"How come not?"

"Because!" Robin groaned, "You're insufferable!"

"I'm insufferable? Oh, you should try talking to yourself!"

"Maybe, I will!"

"Good!"

"Good!" Robin turned around to try to open the door, but it was still locked. He turned back to Marian, who's face was red. He couldn't help but notice how cute she looked when she was angry. Robin shook his head. Had he really just thought that?

"Look," Robin said, "If you want me to help you to get Dashing and Grace together, then I will."

Marian smiled. "Good."

"I'm just saying that it's not something that he's going to do by simply me pestering him."

"How do you know that?" Marian asked.

"Because, I already tried."

Marian laughed. It was a very unprincess-like laugh. "Don't worry," she said, "I've got a plan."

* * *

"Red!" Red turned around to see Grace jogging ever so slightly to catch up to her. "Have you seen Marian?"

Red shook her head. "No. Why?"

"She's been gone for the past hour and I can't find her anywhere."

"Have you checked the forest?"

"Yes."

"Stables?"

"Yes."

"Your room?"

"Yes," Grace said, "I checked everywhere. I even checked the kitchens. I don't know where else she could be."

"Where else who could be?" Marian asked, joining Grace and Red.

"Speak of the devil," Red muttered under her breath.

"Where have you been?" Grace asked. "I've been looking everywhere for you?"

"Obviously not everywhere," Marian muttered not-so-silently. Red laughed while Grace shot her an evil look. "And since you want to know so badly, I got asked to thronecoming."

"Really? By whom?"

"Robin," Marian answered.

"Robin?" Grace asked. "Robin Hood? As in Red's cousin?"

"Very distant cousin," Red added.

"Yes," Marian said.

"But you hate Robin," Grace said.

Marian laughed. "Who ever said that I hated him?"

"You did. Multiple times."

"Well, maybe I don't hate him."

A grin spread across Grace's face. "So, I was right. You've had a crush on Robin all along."

"I wouldn't say that," Marian said, "I'd say that it's a means to an end."

"What end?"

"The thronecoming end."

"But what are we going to do now?" Red asked, "I mean, now that you have a date what are Grace and I going to do?"

"We can all go together," Marian suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"We can go as a double date-or, well, a triple date."

"So, now I have to find a date?" Grace asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry about it," Marian said, "I'll find dates for the both of you."

"That's what makes me worried," Red muttered, but Marian didn't hear her.

* * *

Something was up with Robin, Dashing could tell. Call it a sixth sense or something, Dashing could always tell when something was up with Robin, even if everyone else couldn't. And right now, Robin was hiding something.

"What're you hiding?" Dashing asked, opening his locker and stuffing his athletic bag inside.

"Who said that I'm hiding anything?" Robin asked. Dashing raised an eyebrow. "All right, all right," Robin said. He pulled an arrow out of his locker and started messing around with it, a habit of his that made Dashing nervous. "I was wondering if you were still planning on going stag to thronecoming?"

Dashing sighed. "I thought I already made that pretty clear, Robin."

"I'll take that as a no, then."

"Yes, it's a no. Why do you care?"

"Because my date has some friends, and she doesn't want them to have to go stag, too. So, I said that I had a very handsome prince friend that happened to be going stag, and wouldn't it be wonderful if my friend went with her friend."

"Who is this friend?" Dashing asked, "And more importantly, how did you get a date?"

"I've decided to take offense to that." Robin said, "And you don't need to worry about the date, just say that you'll go."

"I'll go," Dashing said, "As long as she's not mean, or evil, or weird."

"Don't worry," Robin said with a smile, "She's beautiful. Now all that I have to do is find someone else..." Dashing watched as Robin's eyes narrowed in on Bad Wolf. "Bad, my buddy," Robin skipped off to join Bad at his locker, "I was wondering if you still wanted to be the only guy on the bookball team going stag, or if I could change your mind?"

Dashing sighed and closed his locker door. If Robin was recruiting Bad, there was no way that this was going to turn out well.

* * *

"I'm going to kill Marian," Grace said nonchalantly while pulling her blonde hair up in to an intricate hair-do.

"You don't mean that," Red said, trying to slip the ginormous red hood on without messing up her hair.

"You're right," Grace agreed, "I'm going to strangle her in her sleep."

"You almost had me believing you for a second there. You'd make a great villain."

"Thanks," Grace said as she stepped back to examine herself in the mirror.

Her dress was of the palest blue color with a corseted top and a long, billowing skirt. It was a rather simple dress, but one Grace it looked stunning. Grace had chosen it herself, and it could hold a whole arsenal of weapons in the skirt alone.

"You look beautiful," Red said, admiring Grace's gown.

"Thanks," Grace said, "You don't look to shabby yourself."

Red's dress was long sleeved and completely black except for the red hood covering her short hair. The dress reached all the way to the floor and then some, which Grace knew had been purposeful. No one could know that Red was wearing running shoes underneath her gown.

Red blushed. "Thanks you," she said, just as Marian swept through the door.

Unsurprisingly, Marian wasn't wearing a dress, at least, Grace wouldn't call it a dress. She was wearing a pair of brown leggings and a long sleeved top to match. Her skirt seemed to be missing the entire front, as only the back side was present. She was wearing a pair of boots, and an arm guard with her dress. Her brown hair was pulled back in a braid.

"What are you wearing?" Grace asked, slightly horrified.

Marian looked down at her outfit. "Do you like it?" she asked, "I designed it myself."

"I can tell," Red muttered under her breath.

"What happened to the one your parents sent you?" Grace asked.

"The blue one with the cone hat?" Marian snorted, "Like I would be caught dead in that."

"It was pretty."

"Whatever. Now, if you don't mind, the boys are waiting."

Grace sighed. "You know it would help if you told us who you'd set us up with."

"Oh? I never told you?" Marian feigned surprise, making the other girls more irritable. "Well, Red, you're going with Dashing Charming, and Grace, you're going with Bad Wolf."

"What!?" Grace and Red asked at the same time.

"Well, I couldn't have Red go with Bad. I mean, he's a Wolf. And, Grace, you made it very clear that you didn't want to go with Dashing. So, this was the perfect compromise." Marian ignored the looks she was receiving from her friends. "Now," she said with a smirk that rivaled Robin's, "If you don't mind, the boys are waiting."

* * *

Robin was happy. His plan was going along as planned, his suit made him look dashing, and he was going to thronecoming with Marian. Although, that last one didn't make him happy. At least, not that happy.

He glanced at the two boys beside him. Both of them were wearing suits much like the one that Robin was wearing, although Bad looked like he was about to tear his off. Dashing looked incredibly comfortable in his. Robin supposed that all Charmings were comfortable in fancy clothing.

Dashing leaned over to Robin. "Who is it that I'm going with?" he asked. "Do I know her?"

"Yeah," Robin said, "It's Red Hood."

He glanced at Bad Wolf, who was staring out in to space. He already knew the plan. Robin doubted that he would be able to stand going in the same group as Red Hood if he hadn't explained the importance of it. He also might of thrown a couple hundred bucks into the agreement.

"Red Hood?" Dashing asked. "Wait, who are you going with?"

As if answering his question, Robin heard Marian's voice behind him. "Robin, sweetie," she said, hooking her arm through Robin's. He couldn't help but notice how naturally it fit there.

"Marian, dearest," Robin said.

Beside Marian, Grace choked. "Get a room you two," she said.

Marian's face began to redden, but Robin squeezed her hand. It was all part of the plan. After all, they didn't actually like each other. That would be ludicrous.

Dashing, who had been completely silent since Grace entered the room, finally decided to say something. "Hey Grace," he said.

Grace smiled. "Hey Dash," she said.

Robin groaned, this was going to be harder than he thought it would be.

"Hey guys," Red said, finally joining them.

"Alright," Marian said, "Everyone's here. Let's go."

* * *

Thronecoming was everything that Red had expected it to be, and, by that she meant not much. She knew that Snow White had put lots of time planning the entire event, after all, her roommate always seemed obsessed with Snow. She could tell that Snow did a good job, but Red just didn't like dances.

"I'm tired," she said to her date, Dashing Charming. "I'm going to go sit down."

Dashing looked concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm just tired," Red said.

"Oh," Dashing nodded, "Do you want me to come with you?"

Red shook her head. "I think there are a few girls that would like to dance with you," she said, gesturing to the literal line behind them. Without waiting for Dashing to say anything, Red made her way over to one of the tables and sat down.

Red surveyed the room. Marian and Robin were dancing together. Red knew that this was all part of some plan to get Grace and Dashing together, but she couldn't help but notice how natural those two looked together. They looked like they were made for each other, as much as Grace and Dashing did.

Her eyes flicked over to Grace, who seemed to be having a good time despite the fact that her date was Bad. She watched as he spun her around, and couldn't help but be a little jealous. Dashing was a good dancer, but he wasn't Bad.

Maybe something was wrong with Red, but she wasn't enjoying Thronecoming as much as her friends. With one last glance at Bad and Grace, Red left the room.

* * *

Grace watched as Red left the ballroom, although where she was headed, Grace wasn't sure. She had left Dashing to the mercy of one of the many princesses in line. Grace couldn't help but laugh. She knew that Red going to Thronecoming had been a bad idea. The girl hated dancing.

"What's so funny?" Bad asked.

Grace looked at Bad. He wasn't that bad of a dance partner. _A little grumpy?_ Yes. But not a bad dancer.

"My friend just decided to leave," she said.

"Which friend?"

"Red," Grace said, though she didn't see why Bad cared. Bad nodded and they continued around the floor for another minute.

"Please excuse me," Bad said, pulling away from Grace, "I need to run to the restroom."

"Okay," Grace nodded and watched Bad leave. She walked over to a table and sat down to wait for her date to return.

* * *

Dashing was tired of girls asking to dance with him. He was tired of girls stopping him as he tried to get some punch, or grab a brownie, or go the restroom. Dashing had been trained to be a gentleman, but this was getting ridiculous. He glanced over at the table where Red had been sitting, hoping to find that she had returned. Red wasn't a bad dance partner, and she wasn't interested in him, not romantically, at least. Dashing's chest swelled as he found a blonde girl sitting in Red's place.

Dashing had always thought that Grace was beautiful, even when she had been the awkward blonde in pigtails and braces, but she looked especially beautiful tonight. Her gown seemed to fit her perfectly, hugging her figure in all of the right places before dropping to the floor. She was playing with something in her hands, and it seemed to sparkle in the disco light.

"Dashing!" Dashing's attention was drawn away from grace by a short, chirpy girl with ebony hair and ivory skin; Snow White. "I haven't seen you in ages."

Dashing felt like telling Snow that he had indeed seen her only a few minutes earlier. In fact, she had been one of the girls that he had been trying to avoid. Dashing liked Snow, she was nice, but Snow was one of the many princesses hoping that Dashing was her TLK, true loves kiss. Dashing was fairly certain that he wasn't Snow's prince charming, and right now he really didn't have time for her to try to convince him.

"I'm sorry, Snow," Dashing said in his most princely voice, "But I have some urgent business to attend to." With a graceful bow, he ducked away from Snow and made his way over to the table where Grace was sitting.

He stopped in front of her, and finally realized what she was holding in her hands. "Is that.." he paused, not believing what he saw, "Is that a knife?"

* * *

Bad found Red in the gardens, laying down on a stone benches with her knees up staring up at the night sky, her sneakers peeking out from underneath the hem of her dress. Bad took a seat on the damp grass, not caring if he stained his new suit. As he sat down, Red shifted, her grey eyes meeting his.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey" Bad said.

Bad and Red had been meeting up in private since their encounter in the forest a few months previously. Bad kept telling himself that the reason he was sneaking out to visit with the Hood girl was to learn her weaknesses so that he could exploit them, but he knew it wasn't so. Bad like Red. She was interesting, and she laughed at his jokes. She was nice, but, most importantly, she wasn't scared of him.

Bad knew that they could never be anything more than friends, and even being friends was a risky move. Wolfs and Hoods hated each other. That was just how it was. There was nothing that Bad could do to change that, no matter how much he would like to. So he constantly reminded himself that he and Red were friends and only friends. If only it would work.

"What are you doing out here?" Red asked.

Bad shrugged. "I didn't feel like dancing," he said.

Red snorted. "Liar," she said, "You love dancing."

"I didn't feel like dancing with Grace," Bad said.

Red smiled. It was a small smile, but a smile all the same. "Don't you think she'll miss you?"

"Hardly," Bad said, "We both know that this was all a plan by Marian and Robin to get Grace and Dashing together. They'll probably thank us for our absence."

"Yeah," Red agreed, "You don't think they'll think that we left together, do you?"

"Why would they?" Bad asked, "You're a Hood, I'm a Wolf, we're supposed to hate each other."

"Yeah," Red said again, "Do you think Marian and Robin wil get together as well?"

"I don't know," Bad said. It was obvious that Marian and Robin liked each other, just as it was obvious that Grace and Dashing liked each other. In times like this one, Bad couldn't help but be a little bit envious. They had no idea how easily they had it. Bad rested his head against Red's feet.

"Are you okay?" Red asked.

Bad smiled. "I'm fine," he said.

Red stared at him for a moment then resumed staring at the stars. "They're beautiful," she murmured.

Bad watched Red as she watched the night sky. Red thought herself to be plain, and Bad could see why. She was not as beautiful as Grace or as outspoken as Marian, but, to Bad, she was better than both of them.

Red caught him staring and blushed. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

 _I love you._

"Nothing," Bad said, "Nothing at all."

* * *

"Is that a knife?" Grace's head snapped up as she heard the all too familiar voice of Dashing Charming cut through her thoughts. She quickly stuffed the knife back into her skirt where it belonged.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," Grace said, but she knew that it was too late. Dashing Charming was a smart boy, and he had perfect vision, he knew that what Grace had been playing with was indeed a knife. For once, Grace had no idea how to fool someone in to thinking that she was a perfect little princess.

"Why do you have a knife, Grace?" Dashing asked.

Grace really hated that her stupid heart liked Dashing. It didn't help that her stupid brain kept telling her how smart he was either. "Congratulations," she said all too sarcastically, "You caught me. Now what are you going to do? Tell Headmaster Grimm?"

Dashing just stared at her. "why would I tell Headmaster Grimm?"

"Because…" Grace stopped. If Dashing couldn't think of a reason to tell Headmaster Grimm then, perhaps, she shouldn't give him one. "Nevermind," she said. She waited for Dashing to turn around and go back to talking to Snow, but he didn't. "Can I help you with something?" she asked.

Dashing took the seat across from her. "Do you like knives, Grace?" he asked.

Grace shrugged. "I guess," she said, "What's it to you?"

"It's just," Dashing said, "that's not very princessy."

Grace leaned in so that only Dashing could hear her. "I'm going to let you in on a secret, Dash," she whispered, "I'm not very princessy."

"Well, that's a relief," Dashing let out a sigh.

"What?" Grace asked, surprised at his response.

Dashing grinned. "I'm going t let you in on a secret, Grace," he said, "I'm not very princey. Noe, would you like to dance?"

* * *

Marian watched as Dashing and Grace made their way out on to the floor. Holding each other, smiling, and talking. She smiled at Robin and pointed over to where Grace and Dashing were dancing.

"Looks like the plan worked," she said.

"Yeah," the ginger said, "Looks like it went perfectly. How'd you know that Red would leave early?"

"I know Red," she said, "and she hates dances. How'd you know that Bad would leave, too."

"I know Bad," Robin said with a smirk, "And he likes Red."

"Do you think that they know that we know?" Marian asked.

"No," Robin said, "Our friends are idiots that way."

"Yes, they are," Marian said. She leaned against the dessert table, stealing a brownie from a couple talking at the end of the table.

"You thief," Robin said, poking her in the ribs, "I don't see how you're so skinny. You eat enough for three men."

"Genetics," Marian answered. She turned and once more surveyed her friends. They looked happy, she was glad for them. "We make a pretty good team," she mused.

"'Yes, we do," Robin agreed.

"Just so we're clear," Marian said, facing the archer, "I still hate you."

"Me too."

"Good," Marian said. She watched her friends as they danced and laughed, she wouldn't have it any other way.


	27. Avocado Mousse

Over the years, Ashlynn found that there were many things that could be done with an avocado, the most beautiful fruit in the world. She enjoyed putting it on toast and in smoothies. It was one of her favorite things to eat. Which is how, she accidentally ordered thirty pounds of avocados.

Briar eyed the crate warily then glanced at her roommate. "Why do you need thirty pounds of avocados?"

Ashlynn sighed and sat down on her bed. "It was supposed to be three pounds," she said, "I just accidentally added a zero."

Briar nodded in understanding. "Okay," she said, "Just make sure that nobody catches you with them. We're not supposed to have food in our rooms. Apple would be livid if she found out."

"But Apple keeps apples in her room," Ashlynn pointed out.

"That's because she has special permission to," Briar said, picking up an avocado, "Speaking of Apple, I've got to meet her for lunch. I'll see you later."

Ashlynn watched her friend leave. She looked at the crate, which now only had twenty-nine avocados, though they were twenty-nine very large avocados. She pulled out her phone and texted Hunter. This was more avocados than Ashlynn knew what to do with.

It took Hunter a minute and a half to arrive at her door, holding a scrap of paper in his hands. "Avocado mousse," he said, "It's vegan, and one batch takes five avocados."

"Hunter, you're a lifesaver," Ashlynn said, hugging her boyfriend.

"It's what I'm here for, Ash," Hunter said. He walked in to her room and stared at the crate in front of him. "That's a lot of avocados."

Ashlynn smiled. "And it's going to be a lot of mousse."

The mousse took them five hours to make. Three of those hours were spent refrigerating it, one and a half were spent looking for a food processor and then a blendor, and the last half hour was spent actually making the mousse. They made a mess in the room, and Hunter ended up with some in his hair. By the end of it all, the both collapsed in a tired heap.

"Thanks for the help," Ashlynn said, surveying the almost spotless room.

"It's what I'm here for," Hunter haid, picking the avocado out of his hair.

"Well, thank you anyways," Ashlynn said, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Where'd the avocados go?" Briar asked from the door of their room.

Ashlynn laughed. "We made them into mousse."

"Mousse?"

"Yeah," Ashlynn said, "It's in the fridge."

Briar crossed the room to the spot where she was hiding a fridge and pulled out one of the tupperwares filled with chocolate mousse. "This looks great," she said, digging around for a spoon.

"You hear that, Ash," Hunter said, "Briar thinks out vegan avocado mousse looks great. We could put Ginger out of business."

Ashlynn smiled and leaned in to kiss her boyfriend but was interrupted by the sound of her roommate choking. "Sorry, guys," Briar said in between coughs, "You're not putting Ginger out of business anytime soon. In fact-" Briar ran from the room without finishing her thought.

Ashlynn looked at her boyfriend. "Do you think she went to go get something from Ginger?" she asked.

"Probably," Hunter said.

"Do you want to see if it's as bad as she says it is?"

"Why don't we just take her word for it," Hunter suggested.

"Okay," Ashlynn said. She leaned back against her boyfriend. "Even if that mousse is horrible," she said, "You're still the best boyfriend in the world."

"Thanks, Ash," Hunter said. "And you're the best girlfriend in the world. The best, crazy, avocado-buying girlfriend in the world."


	28. True Hearts Day

There was no one thing in the world that Joy Charming hated quite as much as True Hearts Day, except, possibly Starling Hood, but she was a person and not a thing, so she did not fall in the same category.

Joy flopped down on her brother's bed with a groan(he and his roommate were currently out). Today was true hearts day, and it was already the worst true hearts day of Joy's high school career. The day had started with her best friend forever after, Roman, waking her up at the crack of dawn with a phone call asking her to help him decorate for the dance. Joy, being the idiot that she was, agreed, and it had gone downhill from there.

Joy didn't know why, but she had expected to be the only person that Roman had asked to help decorate. She had expected to spend some quality time with her friend before the true hearts day crap started up and Roman was busy running the whole thing with girls asking him to dance every five minutes(it had been that way the past three years). And, perhaps, Joy would've told him that she had had a crush on him for most of her high school career.

However, it had not been so. Roman had invited a whole gaggle of people to help decorate, most of whom were female and always looking for an excuse to touch Roman. It made Joy want to scream, and only helped to reinforce the fact that her best friend was a very attractive guy with lots of girls chasing after him, and that he had confessed to having a crush on one of those girls.

The door banged open and omitted her younger brother, Gal, along with his roommate, Duke Hood, and Joy's cousin, Rosemary. The three of them were best friends, even if they were a strange group. Gal had bright purple hair that he'd inherited from their mother, was twig thin, and could perform magic. Duke was the younger brother of Starling Hood, Joy's roommate, although considerably more levelheaded. He had red hair like his sister and was one of the greatest ballet dances the school had seen. Those two nerds probably would've gotten beaten up a lot if it weren't for the third member of their group, Rosemary Charming. Rosemary was of average height and very pretty, with luxurious ebony hair and bright blue eyes. All that said, the girl could hit a fly from a mile away with her throwing knives, and she always carried a dozen or more on her person.

"What are you doing in my room?" Gal asked, although he didn't seem too surprised.

"It's true hearts day," Joy said, sitting up and crossing her legs.

"True hearts day?" Rosemary asked from behind Gal.

"It's a stupid holiday," Joy explained.

"Isn't it run by your boyfriend?" Duke asked, moving to sit at his desk.

"He's not my boyfriend," Joy muttered.

"That's not what Starling says."

"Well, you shouldn't believe everything that Starling says," Joy snapped back.

"It's the truth, though," Gal said, taking a seat next to his sister, "You two spend so much time together, you might as well be dating."

Joy rolled her eyes, knowing that if she argued with her brother, the only thing she'd get was a burnt backside.

"So, why aren't you hanging out with Roman?" Rosemary asked.

Joy glanced at her cousin. "He's decorating for true hearts day."

"Why aren't you helping?"

"I don't like dances," Joy said, not bothering to fully answer her cousin's question.

"Then why aren't you in your room?" Duke asked.

Joy shot him an accusing look. "That would be because of your sister. Do you know how much time she spends talking about Roman."

"You don't have to tell me," Duke said, "I live with her."

If Joy's day had been going better, she probably would've laughed at his statement. It was a testimony to her mood that she didn't.

"I hate true hearts day," she muttered quietly. Joy shook her head. She wouldn't think about true hearts day or Roman for the rest of the day. She would...visit Maggie in Book End. Yes, that sounded like a great idea.

"I'm leaving," Joy said, sparing a glance at Gal who was busy communicating silently with him friends. Gal glanced at her.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "Have a good true hearts day."

Joy laughed at that.

* * *

Roman wasn't having the best true hearts day. He would go as far as to say that he wasn't having a good true hearts day. This true hearts day was well and truly okay, a thing that no true hearts day had ever been before.

Roman wasn't exactly sure why this true hearts day wasn't as good as the previous ones. The decorations were great, Sage Wood was going to DJ, and Pepper Breadhouse had even agreed to get her mom to cater. It was the true hearts day that Roman had been dreaming of for the entirety of his high school career. So, why wasn't it the best?

Roman's eyes scanned the room. The dance would officially start in an hour, but people were already lining up outside. A few people that had volunteered to help were adding the finishing touches to the room. Sage Wood was setting up her equipment in the middle of the room. She looked up at him and smiled, beckoning him over.

"Are you okay if I play some of my own original songs?" Sage asked when he was within talking distance.

"That's fine," Roman said.

"Good," the younger girl said, glancing around the room as she did so. "Where's Joy?" she asked a second later.

"I don't know," Roman replied. Joy had disappeared some time during the day, and, while Roman had noticed, he hadn't thought much about it. Joy had never liked dances, and he supposed that true hearts day was no different. Even though Roman had thought that, maybe, she'd changed her mind since she had agreed to decorate for the first time ever.

It struck Roman a moment later that maybe Joy was celebrating true hearts day with someone else. The thought irritated him more than he wanted it to. Joy was his friend, and if she had found someone to share her true heart with, then Roman should be happy for her, even if he liked her as more than just friends.

"Speaking of Joy," Sage's voice broke through his thoughts, "her brother's headed over here."

Roman barely had a second to process what Sage said before he was slapped on the back by Gallant Charming. "How are you doing, my man?" Gal asked, leading him away from Sage and the decorators.

Roman looked at the freshman in front of him. The boy's blue eyes sparkled with mischief. Roman knew that whatever Gal was planning it would not turn out well for him. If the youngest Charming was planning on ruining true hearts day, Roman would strangle him.

"How did you get in here?" Roman asked, although he was only slightly surprised that Gal had managed to sneak past security.

"I know people," Gal said with a smile that practically said he'd used an invisibility charm. Roman shook his head. "Anyways, I came here to ask you something."

"And that it?" Roman asked, hoping that Joy's brother would just leave him and his dance alone.

"Do you have a crush on my sister?"

Roman choked on air. "W-what?" he sputtered.

"Do you have a crush on my sister?" Roman repeated slowly.

"What? No. What in Hades made you think such a thing?"

Gal grinned. "So, it's true then?"

"No. It's not true."

Gal shook his head. "Let me tell you something, Roman," he said, looking at the older boy, "I'm very good at reading people. I know that Joy sucks at being social, but I don't, so don't think you can lie to me."

Roman sighed. "Fine," he said, "It's true."

"I knew it," Gal squealed, drawing the attention of the rest of the room's occupants. "Are you going to tell her?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because, she doesn't like me."

Gal rolled his eyes. "You don't know that. Look, it's true hearts day, aren't people supposed to confess their love on true hearts day?"

"I'm not in lo-"

"Don't bother," Gal said, "My pathetic excuse for a sister is currently moping around my other sister's apartment, and there's no way that's good for either of them. So, go. I'll stay here and make sure that nothing gets too out of hand."

"You?"

"Yes, me," Gal said, "I can be responsible on occasion."

"Okay," Roman said, heading towards the exit, "Just make sure nothing bad happens."

"I will," Gal said, and Roman left. He knew that he'd regret letting Gal supervise, but, right now, he didn't really care.

* * *

"You're avoiding him," Joy pretended to ignore her sister, instead focusing on the television screen. A second later in turned off.

"Hey!" Joy turned to face her sister, who had the remote in her hand.

"We're going to talk about this," Maggie said, sitting down next to Joy, "You can't avoid him forever, he's your best friend."

"I'm not avoiding him forever," Joy said with a sigh, "I'm just avoiding him today."

"And why's that?" Maggie asked.

"Because, it's true hearts day," Joy explained.

"And why's that any different?"

"Because he's freakin' Cupid's kid. Roman would be able to tell if I lied about who I like today."

"Maybe," Maggie said, "You don't need to lie."

Joy snorted. "And maybe Aunt Maddie doesn't own a tea shop."

Maggie shook her head. "You should at least go to the dance," she said.

Joy agreed with Maggie. In the past, she had always gone to the true hearts day dance, if only to support Roman. She'd smile and give him a thumbs up whenever he danced with a new girl, and then he'd roll his eyes and drag her along for a dance or two. At the moment, going to the dance and watching Roman dance with other girls was the last possible thing that Joy wanted to do.

"I always went to the dance and had fun," Maggie commented.

"Well, aren't you the social butterfly?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless," she said, "I don't know why I'm not kicking you out and forcing you to go to the dance."

"Because you're the bestest sister ever?" Joy suggested.

"Whatever," Maggie said as the doorbell rang, "That's probably Brick."

"You told Brick about this?" Joy's voice raised an decibel. "You are no longer the bestest sister ever."

"Whatever," Maggie said, and Joy watched, silently cursing her sister, as she went to open the door.

Maggie had always been a fan of the idea of Joy and Roman, but her sister was a fan of the idea of Joy getting a social life in general. Her cousin Brick, on the other hand, believed that Roman and Joy were made for each other-true love, soulmates, the whole shebang. While Maggie probably wouldn't kick her out or do anything stupid, Brick would. He'd call Roman, or knock her unconscious and kidnap her so that Roman would have to rescue her. Brick was in to extremes.

Joy looked up at the sound of someone entering the room, fully prepared to start a screaming match with her cousin. If Joy knew one thing, it was that Brick wasn't going to win this one. The argument that had started to form died in her mouth as she fully noticed who it had just entered her sister's sock riddled apartment.

Roman was standing a few feet away from her, wearing a white tee shirt and jeans that looked way too good on him. His curly golden hair was all over the place, and he looked...nervous? Joy did a double take. That couldn't be right. If Roman was anything, he was confident.

"Hey," he said after a minute, and Joy realized that she had been staring. That was awkward.

"Hey," Joy said, scooting over to make room for Roman on the couch. He took the seat that she offered, but sat far away enough so that they didn't touch. Joy frowned, that was weird. "Why are you here?" she asked, "Don't you have a true hearts day dance to run?"

"I didn't really feel like being there."

Joy raised an eyebrow. "You didn't feel like being at a party? Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?" The comment normally would've made Roman laugh, but instead he shrugged. Joy studied her friend. Something was seriously wrong. "What's wrong?" Joy asked.

"We're friends, right?" Roman asked.

"Yeah," Joy answered cautiously. Of course they were friends. In Joy's book they were best friends. Apparently, Roman hadn't gotten the message.

"And if I did something stupid you'd still be friends with me?"

"Roman," Joy said, looking at her best friend, "we're best friends. There's very little that you could do that I wouldn't still be friends with you. Hex, I'd probably still be friends with you if you killed someone."

"But what if I did something incredibly stupid, and you didn't want to be my friend afterwards?"

"That depends," Joy said, "What's the stupid thing?"

Roman seemed to think about it for a minute before he answered. "Telling a girl that I like her."

"Oh," Joy paused. She should've known that this was about Roman's mystery crush, after all, he was the son of Cupid and this was true hearts day. Didn't people confess their love on true hearts day? Wasn't that why she had been avoiding Roman in the first place, because she was in love with him?

Joy shook her head. She was in love with her best friend and here he was asking her for dating advice about another girl. She almost laughed at the world's cruel sense of humor.

"I'd still be your best friend if you suddenly decided that you you were in love with Starling Hood," Joy said, trying to smile, and failing.

"Good," Roman said, though he didn't seem any less nervous that he'd been a moment before.

"So, who is it?" Joy asked for reasons she couldn't possibly fathom. She was a masochist, she decided. She must really hate herself.

Roman eyed her for a moment before a realization dawned on him. "You like someone," he stated.

"What?" Joy scoffed, "Never."

"I'm Cupid's son, and it's true hearts day," Roman stated the obvious, "I know that you're lying to me about not liking someone."

"And so are you," Joy pointed out.

"I never said that I didn't like someone."

"But you didn't say who it was, either."

Roman shot her an accusing look. "Neither did you."

"I never confessed-"

"Cupid's son, true hearts day, remember? How about on the count of three we both tell each other who it is?"

"I'm not-"

"One," Roman started counting.

"It's totally unfair. You'd know if I was lying."

Roman smiled. "Two."

"Ugh! Fine. But you can't blame me."

"Three." Roman said.

"You," the words tumbled out of Joy's mouth before she had the chance to stop them. Roman stared at her, his eyes, whoever's name he'd been about to say dying on his tongue. Joy averted her gaze, unable to look at her best friend a moment longer. What he must think of her, Joy dreaded to think about it. Best friends forever after for four years, and now she had ruined it. All simply because she couldn't lie to Cupid's son on true hearts day.

 _Damn true hearts day._

"Joy," Roman started, but Joy cut him off.

"Look, you can just ignore what I said. We can act-"

"Joy-"

"Let's just act like none of this happened-"

"Joy!"

"I'm sure Maggie has a forgetting potion somewhere around here-" Joy's though was cut off mid sentence by lips crashing into hers. It took her a second to realize that those lips belong to Roman. And only another second to respond. Part of her couldn't believe this was happening. Roman was kissing her. She was kissing him back.

"Does that answer your question?" Roman asked, pulling away ever so slightly.

Joy looked at her best friend. Her incredibly awesome, nice, _hot_ best friend who had just kissed her. "How long?" she asked.

A slow smile spread across his face. "Since a minute or two before I dropped a book on your head."

"That long?" Joy grinned, and Roman kissed her again.

"Joy!" bellowed a voice from the doorframe. Joy turned to look at her cousin, Brick, who was standing with Maggie behind him. "I can't believe-actually, I can. Why didn't you tell me? How long has this been going on. I have to tell Scarlet." With all that said, Joy and Roman watched as her cousin left the scene, Maggie shooting them an apologetic look as she followed him.

Joy sighed, letting her head drop into her hands. "What's wrong?" asked Roman.

"We have about five hours before the entire Charming clan knows that something is going on between us."  
"And?"

Joy shook her head. "They'll probably have a party or something of the sort."

"Well, then," Roman said, with a secretive smile, "We should probably make the most of the time we have before your family finds out."

Joy smiled. "I suppose we should."

* * *

"Did you hear?" Gal looked up from his phone at the sound of Rosemary's voice. The true hearts day dance was over, and it had gone excellently, according to Gal. His impromptu firework show at the end had made Roman's dance even better. His sister's best friend owed him one.

"Did I hear what?" Gal asked.

"Lavender heard it from Scarlet, who heard it from Brick, that Joy and Roman are dating."

"Dating?"

"Yeah," Gal's cousin said with a smile, "Brick caught them making out on the couch."

Gal tried not to picture what his cousin was saying, after all, they were talking about his sister. Still, he couldn't help but smile. He knew that he was the entire reason that Brick had caught Joy and Roman making out on the couch in the first place. If it weren't for him, roman would've been stuck all night dancing with Duke's annoying sister. Oh, yeah, Roman owed him one.

Big time.


	29. Witch

_Witch._

The first time Yaga heard that word she'd been seven. A traveling minstrel had graced their small village with his presence, and Yaga had taken to following him around like a lost puppy. He hadn't minded, in fact, the bard had enjoyed it. He was a jolly sort of man, more than happy to put up with the village headman's third oldest daughter.

One of his songs had featured a horrible villain that had been able to turn men into frogs with a flick of her finger, he had called this evildoer a witch. And, like all of the other children in her small village, Yaga had hated witches and pretended to slay them for weeks after. It had been a fun game, but eventually the children stopped playing it, choosing instead to pretend that they were knights.

The second time that Yaga had heard the word, it had been in the dead of night. A man had pounded on their door, breathlessly demanding that her father answer it. The man said that Kendra, the old lady who lived on the outskirts of the village, was a witch, and that she had cursed his wife, so that she die in childbirth.

Yaga couldn't believe it. Kendra had always been nice to her, teaching her where to find the best berries, and never caring when Yaga tracked mud through her pristine house. There was no way that Kendra could be the same kind of evil monster that the minstrel sung about. But Kendra was a witch, and she was burned like one too.

Yaga had watched silently as her older sister, Sasha, held her, a single tear slipping down her face.

After that, Yaga avoided talk of witches. She focused on her chores, and helping around the house. She was so focused in her work that she didn't notice the strange things that went around her. She didn't notice the animals that stopped singing as she walked by, deciding to watch her with wide eyes instead. She didn't notice the toadstools that sometimes appeared in her footsteps. She didn't notice the way that the woods near her village seemed to whisper to her, but Sasha did, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before others started to look suspiciously at the headman's third oldest daughter.

The third time that Yaga heard the word, was as her older sister dragged her out of bed and handed her a bag full of food and clothing. Sasha had whispered reassuring words to her sister as she sent her away from the house and the village that Yaga had always known. Sasha went as far as the edge of town, where she hugged her sister and handed her an amulet-for protection. The ten year old had run to the woods, sparing one last glance at Sasha as she did so.

The woods looked after her. They provided food, water, and shelter for Yaga. She made friends with the animals, but a day didn't go by where she didn't miss her sister with all of her heart. To take her mind off of things, Yaga started practicing magic. She would wander around the forest with a spell on her lips that she somehow knew. The woods taught her their secrets, and Yaga protected them for harm.

The fourth time she heard the word, it had come from behind her as she was trying to clear a group of trees that had dammed up a river. Yaga had turned around to find herself facing a boy around the same age as her. He shorter than her, with curly brown hair and a curious look on his face.

"You're a witch," he said, repeating what he had already stated.

Yaga crossed her arms over her chest, brushing her long blonde hair out of the way. She was more powerful than this boy, there was nothing that he could do to hurt her. "So?" she asked defiantly.

"I've never met a witch my own age before," the boy said, "All of the ones I know are old ladies."

"All the ones you know?" Yaga processed what he was saying, "You know other witches?"

The boy grinned. "Of course I do," he said, "I'm a Grimm."

Yaga hadn't known what he meant when he said that he was a Grimm, but she found out soon enough. Somewhere, on the other side of the forest, there was a place where it was normal to have magic, and where witches were accepted. The boy's name was Milton Grimm, and his father ran a school for people with magic and great destinies. He assured Yaga that she could study there and learn how to properly use her powers.

She heard the word many times after that. It was the word that they had used to describe her during school, and after that when she left her mark on the world. Yaga had learned to love that word over the years, after all, not just anyone could be a witch.

Yaga sighed as she looked over the student file in front of her. Raven Queen; the girl who decided that she didn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps. Milton was horrified, but Yaga had expected nothing less. The girl had the potential to be the most powerful witch in all of the realms, more powerful than Yaga herself, and now that she had decided to go off script it would be impossible to control that power. Milton had more than enough reason to be scared.

"Baba Yaga?" came a questioning voice at her door.

Raven looked skeptically around Yaga's office, making her want to roll her eyes. Milton had ordered her to set the girl on the right path, but Yaga wasn't sure if she was going to. She had taught Raven's mother, seen her thirst for magic and power. Raven wasn't anything like her. She had no schemes or plans. She lived her life one day at a time. Yaga understood this. She understood what it was like to have others be afraid of you. She understood how hard it was to be a witch.

"Miss Queen," Yaga said, closing the file in front of her and assuming the role of counselor once more, "Why don't you come in."


	30. The Mirrornet

Someone else was in the network, Valerie could feel it.

She felt it the moment that they joined the mirrornet, for she was as big a part of the network as the original coding. She could feel them move around from person to person, assessing each character the same way that Valerie did. She could even hear them, and their voice was less than appealing.

On a normal day, Valerie would've already removed them from her network, but today was not a normal day. Today was the day that Snow White was being woken from her kiss, and Valerie would be damned if she let some wannabe narrator ruin the moment for her.

Valerie surveyed the scene in front of her. Snow White was laying in her glass coffin, looking very much dead, but Valerie knew that she was not. She was simply waiting for true loves kiss. Valerie smiled, this was her moment, the one that she had been waiting for her entire life.

She took a deep breath.

"Once upon a time," came a voice that was not Valerie's, "there was a princess with hair as black as coal and skin as pale as snow."

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Valerie couldn't stop herself from shouting.

"I'm narrating," the other narrator seemed a bit shocked by Valerie's sudden outburst.

"Like hell you are!"

At this, the other narrator laughed. "Of course I am. I've been assigned to the Evil Queen. I'm here to tell her story."

"Well, stay out," Valerie hissed, "I've been assigned to Snow White. This is her story."

The other narrator, who Valerie now realized was male, spoke. "This is the Evil Queen's story as much as it is Snow White's."

Valerie huffed, wishing that the other narrator to show himself so that she could have some choice words with him. Instead, she focused on the scene in front of her.

"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a princess with hair as black as coal and skin as pale as snow-"

"And she was a total bitch."

Valerie groaned. "Stay out of my story!" she shouted, "This is my narration, not yours! Besides, you don't even know Snow White, she's not a total bitch. She's doing what's right, what's expected of her."

"What's expected of her, is not always what's right."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not."

"Urgh. Why am I even talking to you? I don't even know you."

"My name's John," the other narrator said, choosing that moment to appear. Had Valerie not been so angry at him, she might've taken a moment to notice that John was actually rather good-looking, not in the 'I'm-super-hot-everyone-wants-to-go-out-with-me' way, but more in the "I'm-kind-of-shy-but-I-can-be-a-total-prick' way. But she was, so she didn't.

"What are you doing in my narration?" Valerie asked.

"Like I said," said John, "I'm telling the story correctly."

"No, you're not," Valerie said, "I'm doing it correctly. You're not supposed to sympathise with the villains."

"Why not?"

"Because...because...it's not right."

"Why?"

"Because that's not how it is done."  
"Why?"

"Because it's not."

The two narrators continued to argue, neither of them noticing when Snow White's prince rode to the rescue and rescued the princess with true love's kiss(although John would've called it CPR). They continued to argue as Snow White and her prince rode off into the sunset for their 'happily ever after', not noticing as the sun went down and the stars came out. Neither of them noticed that the story had finished, and when they finally did they both blamed each other.

This would not be their last argument, for over the years they had many more, the latest of which was whether or not Raven Queen's decision to take her destiny into her own hands was the correct thing to do. John said yes, Valerie said no. And a third narrator listened and watched as the two bickered and fought, wondering how the two of them ever had a child together and hoped that soon they'd leave the mirrornet for good.

Unfortunately for that narrator, they didn't.


	31. Rosemary's green, Lavender's blue

The Charming palace was in a bustle. Of course, Rosemary had never seen the palace any other way, but there was something different about the chaotic pace surrounding the wedding. Charming Family Balls were big, but Charming wedding were huge.

Rosemary dodged another decorator as she made her way down the corridor. She would've liked nothing more than to help decorate, but right now, she was on a mission. She had to find Gal before he ran off to be best man. She had some choice words for him, but, for Roman's sake, they'd only be words.

Rosemary dodged a few distant relations that she didn't want to talk to before bumping into a black haired girl in pajamas with a curling iron in her hand-Maggie Charming, the second oldest of the Charming cousins.

"Rosemary, thank God," Maggie said with a sigh, "Have you seen Lavender. Joy wants our hair in ringlets and I just can't get mine to stay."

Rosemary smiled at the older girl. "Last I saw her she was talking to Gideon Hatter."

"And where is he?"

"Like I know," Rosemary shrugged.

"Thanks anyways," Maggie said and headed off down the corridor. Rosemary watched her leave with a smile. The Charming cousins were known for being a little bit crazy, and for there being a lot of them. Though, Rosemary thought, there weren't that many of them, only seven; Brick, Maggie, Joy, Scarlet, Lavender, Gal, and herself.

Rosemary reached Gal's door and pulled herself out of thought. Right now, she was mad at Gal, she couldn't afford to be sentimental. Rosemary knocked on the door and waited. When there wasn't an answer, she knocked again. "Gallant Charming!" she yelled and smiled as she her rushed footsteps and cursing.

The person that answered the door, however, was not Rosemary's cousin. Instead of seeing Gal's bright purple hair, she was met by a mop of red hair, brown eyes, and a face covered in freckles. A face that ninety-nine percent of the female population at their school found attractive. Thankfully for Rosemary, she was the one percent that didn't.

"Hey, Rosie," Duke Hood said with a grin.

Rosemary shook her head. "It's Rosemary, Duke," she said, "Rose. Mary. It shouldn't be that hard. Even for a dumb jock like you."

Once upon a time, Rosemary hadn't minded when Duke Hood called her 'Rosie', in fact, she'd loved it, but that was back when Duke and Gal were just nerds that she had to make sure didn't get bullied. That was before Duke and Gal became two of the most pursued boys at Ever After and suddenly didn't have time for her. At least Gal had still tried, Duke had completely ignored her for over a year and a half. He did not have 'Rosie' privileges.

"Ouch," Duke said, acting like she'd wounded him. Rosemary rolled her eyes.

"Where's my cousin?" she asked.

"Which cousin?"

"The stupid one with the purple hair," Rosemary said, "I need to talk to him."

"About what?"

"Personal stuff."

Duke raised an eyebrow. "Do you need relationship advice or something? 'Cause I know way more about relationships than he does."

"Where's Gal?" Rosemary asked with a sigh.

Duke stared at her for a moment, studying her. It made Rosemary uncomfortable. "He's in the bathroom," he said after a full minute, stepping to the side so that Rosemary could enter.

"Thank you," Rosemary said with a smile, practically skipping past Duke in to Gal's rooms, just as Gal exited the bathroom.

"Shit," he said as he noticed her. Then he shot an irritated look at Duke. "I told you not to let her in."

Duke shrugged. "I have a weakness for pretty girls."

At that, Rosemary snorted. Duke glanced at her, but she ignored him, instead focusing on her cousin. "Why did Sage cancel last minute on me, Gal?" she asked, "Just last week she was super excited, and all of a sudden she has 'family commitments'. Care to explain what happened?"

Gal sat down on his bed. "I don't know," he said, "You know that we've been hanging out all summer practically. She's a really cool girl."

"What did you do?" Duke asked, suddenly interested in their conversation.

"She told me that she liked me."

"That's good though," Rosemary said, "right?"

Gal groaned and flopped on to the mattress. "No, it's not, Rosie," he said, "Sage is your best friend. That would be like you dating Duke."

"First of all, I would never date Duke," Rosemary said. When Duke shot her an accusatory look she just shrugged. It was true. "Second of all, why the hell would you think that I wouldn't be okay with the two of you dating?"

"But-"

"No, Gallant Charming," Rosemary said, "You are going to call Sage, and tell her how you feel, or I am going to find Roman and tell him exactly what has been going on. Believe me, he would be more than happy to help."

"You wouldn't."

"I most definitely would," Rosemary said, "If I don't hear from Sage within the next hour, I will tell him myself." With all of that said, Rosemary turned on her heel and left, leaving two very shocked boys behind her. The first one wondering how on earth he was going to tell Sage how he felt, and the second admiring the way her hair swung back and forth as she walked.

* * *

"There you go," Lavender sprayed the remainder of the hairspray can on her cousin's hair before turning Maggie around so that she could see herself in the mirror.

Maggie gasped, taking in the way that her naturally pin straight hair curled in lazy ringlets. "It's beautiful," she said.

"I know," Lavender said with a smirk.

Lavender had always been skilled with things like hair and makeup, to the point where it drove her mother mad. Rosemary had always been the one that her mother and father understood, when it came to Lavender with her brains and intense interest in fashion the best that Darling Charming could do was shrug.

"So," Maggie said, stepping out of her dressing robe and putting on her maid of honor dress, "What's going on between you and Gideon Hatter?"

Lavender shrugged. "Honestly?" she asked, "I have no idea. He's nice and sweet and cute."

"But?"

"He's Gideon Hatter," Lavender sighed, "The only person crazier than he is is his twin. Besides, he's planning on going back to Wonderland after the wedding."

"Weren't you planning on doing the exact same thing?" Maggie asked, turning around so that Lavender could zip up her dress.

Lavender slid the zipper up and stepped back, viewing her cousin. Maggie sure was pretty when she bothered to put in contacts and spent time on the way she looked. "I don't know," Lavender said, "I mean, it would be great to get to study the fashion in Queen Lizzie's court, but I've got a great career here."

Maggie stared at her cousin. "You're joking, right?" she asked, "You're nineteen, and you won't go work with the leading fashion designer in the world because of a small chance that you'll be promoted from barely paid intern?"

"I'm not-" Lavender's reply was cut off by her younger sister, Rosemary, bursting into the room.

"Ugh, I hate him," Rosemary groaned, flopping down on Lavender's bed. Lavender glanced at her sister, glad for the change of topic, though one look at Maggie told her this wasn't the end.

"Who is it that you hate this time?" Lavender asked. Her younger sister was famous for her ability to make enemies with strangers. It was a weird talent, but one that Rosemary exceeded in.

Rosemary flipped over on her stomach and eyed the two older girls before sighing dramatically. Lavender smiled, the theater department had no idea what they were missing by not casting Rosemary.

"So, this morning Sage called me and said that she couldn't make it anymore. Naturally, I was like 'what happened', and basically it came down to that Gal broke her heart. So, I was all, 'I can fix this'. So, I demanded that Gal tell her that he liked her, because he does, and they are absolutely cute together. I threatened him, and he did it-which is great. I love them. But, Gal decided to take it a step forward and ask Sage to be his plus one to the wedding, even though she was supposed to be my plus one and he was already taking his idiotic best friend. And Sage said yes. So now she's going with Gal, and I'm stuck with Duke freakin' Hood, because he already had his suit and all of that, even though we don't like each other, and can barely stand each other, and sometimes I want to throw a knife in that ridiculously perfect face of his," Rosemary heaved another sigh, "What do I do?"

Lavender almost laughed. Rosemary got herself into the weirdest messes. "Why are you asking me?" Lavender asked.

"Because you always seem to know how to fix my problems."

Lavender shook her head. "I can't fix this one for you, Rosie," she said.

"Couldn't you take him as your plus one."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No," Lavender said, "Besides, it's not like you'll even have to talk to each other."

Maggie opened her mouth to speak, but Lavender shot her a look. Rosemary did not need to know about the planned seating arrangements.

"If you want my advice," Maggie said, "I think you should stab him with one of those knives of yours and hit him a few times. The boy's too cocky for his own good."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"It's not," Lavender said, "And if you lay so much as a hand on that boy, I'm going to make sure that you spend the rest of the summer with Nana in Wonderland."

"You're no fun," Rosemary pouted.

Lavender sighed. "One of us has to be the grownup, and since Maggie won't do it, I will. Now, go get dressed or Joy will kill you."

Rosemary protested, but went to get dressed all the same.

* * *

Rosemary never liked weddings, they were too much fuss and bother, which is why she decided that she was never ever going to tell her parents that she was getting married. She would elope, plain and simple, and then her parents would have to find out along with the rest of the family.

That being said, the wedding was incredibly beautiful, everything that you'd expect when a goddess of love planned your wedding. Joy was beautiful, Roman was handsome, there were tears, everything went off without a hitch, and Rosemary felt incredibly uncomfortable standing in the front of the church at the very back of a line of bridesmaids, which was selfish of her. This was Joy's big day, and it was nice that she wanted to have all of her cousins on stage with her.

The wedding was perfect-everything that a girl could hope for-it was the pictures afterwards that really got on Rosemary's nerves. Here's how it worked; Joy had decided to have all of her cousins and Roman's sisters as her bridesmaids. Maggie, was her maid of honor, so it naturally made sense to put the bridesmaids in age order. Maggie was first, then Scarlet, then Athen, Roman's older sister, then Lavender, then Alex, Roman's younger sister who just so happened to be in Rosemary's grade, then Rosemary. All of those girls were lined up and smiling for twenty minutes after the wedding ended and everyone had left.

Rosemary huffed and tried to keep the smile on her face. She was a second from requesting that Lavender do the hair thing to get them out of there when Alex spoke up. "This is taking forever," she said so that only Rosemary could hear it.

"Yeah," Rosemary muttered back.

Alex and Rosemary had never been friends. The may have been in the same grade, but they weren't in the same social circles at all. Alex hung out with the popular crowd, consisting of people like Jon White, Ella Huntsman, and, Rosemary's personal favorite, Duke Hood. Rosemary hung out with the Charming crowd, and Sage. Though now that all of the Charmings except Gal were graduated, she supposed that she only hung out with Sage, and occasionally Pepper Breadhouse. That didn't mean that Alex wasn't nice, though. Alex was pretty nice, she and Rosemary simply didn't talk.

"Who's your plus one?" Alex asked after a second.

Rosemary sighed. "Duke Hood," she mumbled.

Alex let out a low whistle only to be scolded by the photographer. "How many girls did you have to fight to get him?"

"None," Rosemary said, "My cousin stuck me with him. If you want him, he's all yours."

"As much as I would love to take him off of your hands, I can't. I started going steady with Jon."

Rosemary didn't know whether or not to laugh at that, Jon White and Alex Cupid had one of the most complicated relationships in the history of Ever After High, and that was saying something. Rosemary had been privy to the whole Joy/Roman I'm-in-love-with-my-best-friend-and-don't-know-if-telling-them-will-ruin-our-friendship thing for years. Maybe it was just a children of Cupid thing that they couldn't get a break.

"He's not that bad, you know?"

"John?"

"No, Duke," Alex said, "He really misses your friendship."

Rosemary snorted.

"Miss Charming!" bellowed the photographer, "Will you please stand still!?"

* * *

Lavender glanced around the ballroom, taking in the beautiful decor as she did so. Joy had been complaining about it earlier, insisting that she hadn't wanted anything fancy, but when your future mother in law is Cupid, fancy is what you got.

The bride and groom had a table in the middle of the room right before the dance floor for themselves and their parents. Tables surrounded the rest of the dance floor, each one with six place settings and engraved place cards to match. Lavender made her way through the tables, finding her name card in the process. She was at the same table as Scarlet, Athen, and their dates. The place card right next to hers made her smile as she read it.

 _Gideon Hatter_.

Lavender set her clutch down just as said person walked up to the table. "Hey, Lavender," he said, "Can I sit here?"

Lavender spun around with a smile on her face. Gideon Hatter was by no means tall, but he was taller than Lavender, and that was what really counted. His curly bright teal hair stood out on his head and matched his eyes. It appeared that he'd tried, and failed, to get his hair under control. He was wearing a purple tuxedo that would've looked horrible on anyone else, but he could pull it off.

"It is your seat," Lavender said, gesturing to the name card.

"There's assigned seats?" Gideon asked, taking the seat next to her as he did so. Lavender laughed.

"Yes," she said, "There's assigned seats."

"Oh," Gideon swallowed nervously, "So, I was talking to Maggie-"

Lavender almost groaned, Gideon talking to Maggie could never be good.

"and she said that you were planning on going to Wonderland to study with the queen."

Lavender shook her head, this was all part of Maggie's plan to get her to accept the apprenticeship. "I've been offered the opportunity," Lavender said, "but I'm not sure if I'm going to accept. Wonderlands a long way from home."

"But you have family in Wonderland," Gideon pointed out.

"Trust me," Lavender said, "I'd rather not have to live with Nana for a full year. She's crazy."

"Why don't you live at the palace?" Gideon asked, "I'm sure Aunt Lizzie would be fine with it."

"I'm not sure."

"It would be great. Everyone lives there."

"And by everyone you mean?"

"Andrew, and Cat, and me."

"You live at the palace."

"Yeah," Gideon said, "You know, since I'm studying realm travel, and collection at the palace is extensive."

Just that moment, the sound of arguing reached Lavender's ears. She winced as she recognized the voices, glancing towards the table her sister was sitting at. Sure enough, Rosemary was in the middle of a very heated argument with Duke Hood. Lavender groaned, this was Joy's big day, couldn't Rosemary just be civil with Duke for five minutes.

"Is that your sister?" Gideon asked.

Lavender sighed. "Yes," she said.

"Do you want to help her?"

Lavender glanced from Rosemary to Gideon for a minute before shaking her head. "Not really," she said, "I just want to dance wit you, though I have to do something first." Lavender picked up her phone and sent a text to Rosemary that she knew would shut her up. She smiled at Gideon. "Would you like to dance?" she asked.

Gideon grinned back. "I'd love to."

* * *

 _If he's pissing you off, walk away. If he's not, play nice. If you don't, you'll spend the rest of the summer at Nana's._

Rosemary threw another knife that embedded itself in the very center of the target. She wanted to kill Duke Hood, Lavender's text was the only thing stopping her. It was Joy's big day and she didn't want to ruin it for her, but Duke Hood was a complete and total asshat.

The reception had started off well enough with her, Duke, Gal, Sage, Alex, and Jon all sitting at a table enjoying dinner. Rosemary had mostly talked to Sage, but Sage had wanted to talk to Gal, so she also talked to Alex. However, talking to Alex meant talking to Jon as well, who was deeply engrossed in a conversation with Duke Hood. And Alex had thought that it would be a good idea to try and get Rosemary and Duke back on speaking terms, which hadn't gone that well. Actually, that was an understatement, it had gone horribly.

Rosemary dug another knife out of her bag and tossed it from hand to hand, assessing its balance.

Alex, it seemed, liked talking about relationships, and when Duke found out that Rosemary had never been in one, he couldn't help but gloat. So, naturally, Rosemary had called him a slut for the three or four girlfriends that he'd had, even though it wasn't that many. Duke had called her a dyke, and the fighting just escalated from there. Then the text from Lavender came and Rosemary stormed out.

Rosemary flipped the knife over in her hand, gripping the blade in her palm. She took a deep breath, picturing the target as Duke Hood's face and threw. The knife embedded itself where Duke's eye socket would've been.

"You missed," came a voice from not too far behind her. Not even bothering to think, Rosemary whirled around and punched Duke Hood right in that ridiculously perfect nose of his. The crunching sound was satisfying, even though Rosemary knew that it came from her own knuckles more than it came from Duke's nose.

"I suppose, I deserved that," Duke said, covering his bloody nose with his hand.

"Yeah," Rosemary said, "You did." She picked up her bag and grabbed a handkerchief out of it. She offered it to Duke, and, surprisingly, he took it. "What are you doing out here?"

"I came out here to apologize."

Rosemary raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, that, but mostly because the couples sitting at our table are nauseating, and only got worse once you left."

Rosemary laughed, which surprised her. She hadn't laughed with Duke Hood in a long time.

"I'm sorry for calling you a dyke," Duke said, "You're not."

"And I'm sorry for calling you a slut," Rosemary said. The silence that followed was awkward. Rosemary shifted, picking up her bag to leave when Duke grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"Wait," he said, and, for a reason unknown to her, Rosemary stopped.

"Yes?"

"What happened?" Duke asked, "I mean, to us. We used to be best friends."

Rosemary paused. "I don't know," she said after a full minute, "I suppose you stopped having time for me."

"That's not true," Duke said.

Rosemary shrugged. "You started dating Stella," she said, "even though she hated me. I suppose it just hurt."

"What do you mean?"

Rosemary sat down on the grass. "It was like, my one of my best friends chose her over me, and it hurt. I thought that maybe that was your of telling me that you didn't want to be friends anymore."

"I didn't…" Duke trailed off as he joined her on the damp grass. "I still wanted to be friends with you. I still _want_ to be friends with you."

"Why not tell me sooner?"

Duke leaned back on his hands. "You're pretty intimidating."

Rosemary almost laughed at that. Duke Hood thought that she was intimidating. It was laughable.

"So, will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Be friends with me again, even though I can be a total asshole?"

"Yes," Rosemary said, watching as a grin spread across Duke's face.

"Does this mean I have 'Rosie' privileges?"

"Did you ever stop calling me Rosie?"

"No."

"Then I don't see why you need to ask."

* * *

Joy tore her eyes off of her parents dancing on the floor as her husband- _husband_ , she'd never get used to that-grabbed her hand. "What is it?" she asked Roman.

Roman smiled. "Relationships are starting," he said.

"What did you do?" Joy asked.

"Nothing," Roman said not that convincingly, "I just gave a couple people the push that they needed."

"Are these people related to me?"

Roman shrugged. "Maybe."

Joy rolled her eyes. "I just hope that everything went well for them."

"Trust me," Roman said, "It did. Cupid's son, remember?"

"More like a meddling little pixie," Joy said.

"I'm not a pixie," Roman pretended to be offended, "And I'm offended that you even thought such a thing."

Joy laughed. Her husband( _eep!_ ) was definitely someone else. She just hoped that whichever one of her cousins he'd been setting up would forgive her. She smiled again as Roman kissed her. Or that they'd end up as happy as her, because, right now, Joy could say with certainty that she was the happiest woman in the world.


	32. Maybe

_Have you recently become a beast? If so, there is nothing to worry about. Beasts populate a large percentage of the magical community from werewolves and vampires, to the more rare varieties such as basilisks and kelpies. Not all beasts are shapechangers, but the majority of them were at one time human, or are related to humans in some sort of way._

 _Accepting the change is often the hardest part. The physical as well as mental changes that take part in your body are not what you're used to. Sometimes you become faster, sometimes you become smarter, and sometimes you hardly change at all. Each person and species varies. Just remember, you're still you, just a little different._

Daring threw the pamphlet across the room, smirking as it landed in the fireplace and burst into flame. It was a load of bullshit, just like every other pamphlet and book that his parents had had him read over the past year.

Darling looked up from her book at her brother and sighed. "What was it this time?"

"The same as usual," Daring said as he sat down on the couch across from his sister. Darling was one of the only people that talked to Daring these days. When he'd first transformed, he'd spent every day surrounded by people that pretended to care, but slowly they'd all disappeared until only his brother and sister were left.

"Maybe one day, you'll take their advice," Darling said, returning to reading her book. "It's not as if there's a huge supply of beauties hanging around."

"What about-"  
"Rosebella already has a beast to take care of," Darling interrupted, "besides, if you just accepted the way you are, it might change."

Daring growled. "It's never going to change," he said, "It's all that stupid fairy's fault."

Darling looked like she wanted to disagree, but she remained silent. Daring's transformation hadn't been a traditional transformation. She supposed that that was partially Raven Queen's doing. The girl ran around talking about how things could be done differently, and people took it to heart. The fairy that Daring impolitely turned down had definitely taken it to heart.

Had her brother transformed into a large, hairy monster, Darling was sure he would have been fine with it, but he hadn't. Instead, his veins had turned black, his ears had become pointed and covered with silver scales, and scars now marred his previously perfect body. Their parents had removed him to one of their remote castles, one without any mirrors, so their favorite son couldn't see what he had become. But Darling could see, and seeing her brave, heroic older brother in this state made her want to scream.

"What if I knew someone who could help you with this?" Darling asked.

"Daring's head snapped up. "Who?"

"Someone that's been going through similar stuff their whole life, and has had to deal with it."

"I don't see how i could help," Daring muttered.

"I don't see how it could hurt," Darling snapped back, "Would you turn them away if I sent them here?"

"I may be a beast," Daring said, "but I still have manners. I am a prince."

Darling smiled. "Good," she said.

"Are you going to tell me who they are?"

"No," Darling said, "You already know them"

* * *

Darling left the next morning before the sun came up. She had business in another realm, a king needed the help of the legendary Charming knight, but she promised that she'd be back as soon as possible, and she promised to sent the mythical person that would supposedly help Daring. Daring doubted that they would do much good.

Daring strolled through the halls stopping only when he came to the library. When his parents had moved him almost a year ago, they'd removed all mirrors and anything sharp, so that Daring wouldn't attempt to kill himself. The extensive weapons room that had formerly occupied the castle had been turned into an entertainment center, but Daaring almost never spent time there. Most of his time was spent on the acres on land that surrounded the castle or in the library.

Daring had never been a reader, and he still wasn't, but there was something about the library that calmed him. It was a place where he could go to forget everything; his old life, his old friends, everyone who'd left him.

He'd just settled down in one of the massive chairs when the doorbell rang. Daring sighed and picked himself up, that was another thing that his parents had gotten rid of-servants. Food would magically appear when he was hungry, and the dinner table would magically be set, but there were no servants.

Daring opened the door, ready to turn away whatever pamphlet toting spokesperson had come to visit. Standing in the doorway was a girl around his age. She had shoulder length brown hair that covered her ears, and grey eyes. She was wearing a pair of jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers. She looked vaguely familiar, but Daring couldn't place her.

"I'm not interested," Daring said. "Go sell your propaganda to someone who cares."

The girl laughed. "I'm not selling anything," she said, "Your sister called me."

"My sister?"

"Yeah."

"Why would she call you?"

"Something about my ability to relate," the girl said, 'She was kind of vague, but I owe her one. So," she stuck out her hand, "name's Cerise. We went to high school together, but you've probably forgotten me."

Daring stared at the girl in front of him. He knew Cerise Hood, of course he did. But the shy, meek girl from Ever After looked nothing like the one standing in front of him now, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jeans and a smile on her face.

"I remember you," Daring said, shaking her hand. "Daring Charming. I look a little different than I did in high school."

Cerise laughed.

"Do you want to come inside?" Daring moved so that Cerise could enter, and she did, sliding past him and into the foyer.

Daring stared at the girl. Why had Darling sent _her_ to try and convince him that being a beast wasn't all that bad? This was Cerise Hood, she was supposed to be scared of beasts. Instead, she strolled past him without a second glance.

"Why did-"

"I'm a werewolf," Cerise cut him off, "If you're wondering why your sister called me."

"You're a werewolf?" It explained a lot of things about Cerise, but Daring was still hesitant to accept it. She seemed fairly normal to him.

"Yes, I'm a werewolf," Cerise sighed and took a seat on one of the couches. She reached up a hand and flicked aside her hair. Sure enough, there was a pointed, fur-covered ear sitting in plain view. "Your sister thought that I could help you come to terms with being who you are because I've had to deal with this my entire life, and trust me, it's not an easy secret to keep."

"What's not an easy secret to keep?"

"Nothing."

Cerise eyed Daring as he crossed the room and took the seat opposite to her. "So, if nobody else knows that you're a werewolf, then how come Darling knows?"

"It's a long story," Cerise said, "One I'd rather not tell."

"How come?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?" Cerise skillfully avoided his question.

Daring shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to do."

At that, Cerise laughed. It was a very nice laugh, Daring thought. "You have a lot of other things to do," she said, "This palace is so big, you could do anything. Not to mention the town I passed on the way here."

"I can't go there," Daring mumbled.

"Why not?"

"Because...you know...I'm a…"

"A beast?"

"Yeah."

"That's not a good reason," Cerise said, "What do you think this is? The nineteenth century? People aren't scared of beasts anymore, a little prejudice, but not scared. They're not going to chase you out of town with pitchforks."

"How do you know this?"

"I've been dealing with this my whole life, Daring," Cerise said, "I used to be scared too."

"And now you aren't?"

"I'm terrified. I just don't let it stop me."

"Well, then," Daring said, "you're a lot braver than me."

Cerise eyed him for a moment. "Maybe I am," she said, after a second. It was obvious that that was the end of the conversation, neither of them knew what to say after that. Cerise stood up and made her way to the door, stopping just as she opened it. "Daring," she said, drawing Daring out of his thoughts and back into reality, "If you want to talk I'm staying in town for the next few days. It's not as bad as you think it is. I've seen worse." And with that, she closed the door behind her.

Daring listened as she walked until he could hear her shoes no more. He leaned back in his chair, picking up a book as he did so. _Little Red Riding Hood._ He flipped through a couple of pages. Nowhere in the book did it mention that Little Red was actually a werewolf. Nor did it mention how brave she was.

He set down the book, picking up the copy underneath it. _Beauty and the Beast_ , the book that had been taunting him for what seemed like ages. Daring had been trying to figure out how to orchestrate his return to his former self since he'd been changed. Every copy of the book that he found was the same. A beautiful maiden loves the beast for himself, not his appearance. Daring had a hard time finding a maiden that could talk to him, let alone fall in love with him.

Maybe, he thought flipping through a few pages, the story wasn't one hundred percent accurate. Maybe it was like Little Red Riding Hood, and the narrator decided to leave out a few details. Details that would otherwise be key to the story. Daring set the book down. Maybe, the beast had a meddling little sister that sent the beautiful maiden to the castle. And Maybe, that maiden was a werewolf that happened to be staying in the next town.

Daring jumped up from his seat. He didn't know if this would work. He didn't even know if Cerise would want to talk to him, but he found that he didn't care whether or not a beautiful maiden fell in love with him. Maybe there was no such thing as true love, and it was all just a big fluke. Daring didn't care. For the first time in a long time he'd talked to someone who'd understood, someone who's seen worse.

Daring smiled as he left the castle. Maybe, just maybe, this would work. And for Daring, maybe was enough.


	33. It Wasn't Supposed to be This Way

Evi was excited. Red observed her roommate's reflection in the mirror. The future evil queen was busy packing her trunk, an activity that Red had done several days earlier. She watched as the girl talked at length about how great it was that she would finally graduate and get revenge on Snow White. What she was getting revenge for Red didn't know, she wondered if Evi even knew. Probably not, Red decided. Evi knew no more about why she hated Snow White than the Hoods knew about the Wolfs.

Red fixed her cap and sent one more glance at her roommate. For all that Evi had been destiny happy and magic crazy, she had been a good roommate. Red wouldn't miss her, but it would definitely be different without her around.

"Bye, Evi," Red said, turning to face the girl, "I suppose we won't see each other again."

"No, we won't," Evi agreed, "I hope you have a nice time delivering baskets, or whatever it is you do."

"And I hope you have a nice time," Red paused. What exactly was Evi going to do? Poison a nice, if a little annoying, girl? "conquering the world, or something."

Evi smiled at that, but didn't say anything. With her goodbyes to her roommate over, Red left the room. The next round of goodbyes wasn't going to be quite as easy.

Red found Marian sitting outside the graduation hall. She was wearing a blue dress with a matching cone hat that looked all kinds of unnatural on her. She was staring down at her hands, lost in thought, with Robin right beside her.

"I don't know, Rob," she said and Red slowed her approach. She sounded so unsure of herself that Red knew that she was intruding on something private. Marian almost never let people see her as anything but loud and obnoxious.

"Marian," Robin said, "My destiny's always been to save you."

"I know," she said, "but now you're free to do whatever you want. Nobody can blame you for doing something else."

"Maybe I don't want to do anything else," Robin said, and Red stifled a gasp. That was practically a declaration of love coming from the red headed archer.

Marian and Robin's relationship was what one would call complicated. Sometimes they were best buds and other times they were at each other's throats. Red would go as far as to say that their relationship was more complicated than hers and Bad's. Though, they had no reason for it to be. They were literally written for each other.

"Robin, I-"

"There you two are," Marian's response was cut off by the arrival of Dashing Charming, and his girlfriend, Grace. "I hope we're not interrupting anything," Dashing said, sliding between Robin and Marian. Red glanced at Grace, who was shaking her head. Obviously, Grace had seen something was going on between the two.

Marian smiled, though Red was sure that it was mostly in relief. "Looks like we're all here," she said, "The only person we're missing is Red."

"I'm here. I'm here," Red said, running out of her hiding spot and pretending to be out of breath. It was best if Marian didn't know that she had been eavesdropping. "You have no idea how hard it was to escape Evi."

"Well," said Grace with a smile that said that she knew that Red was lying, "you're here now. So, let's go."

* * *

Graduation went off without a hitch, just as Red had expected it to. Dashing Charming's valedictorian speech was all about the future and their destinies. Snow White, the class president, smiled and chirped happily about how they would all look back on this day and smile. After that, they took turns walking across the stage.

There was an after party for those without immediate destinies to fill. Unfortunately for Red, she wasn't one of those people. Red had to successfully carry a basket to her grandmother's house, then she could go to the party.

"Red," Red's mother said, looking her in the eyes, "Make sure to deliver this basket to your grandmother. And remember not to talk to strangers or wander off the path."

"Yes, mom," Red said, taking the basket that her mother was holding out. She left the house, not nothing to look behind her.

Once upon a time, Red had dreaded her destiny. She had grown up hearing horror stories about the Wolfs, so it was only natural to fear them. They were scary monsters who ate children and feasted on sick, old grandmothers. When she was young, Red had been afraid that she would die delivering the basket of goodies.

Then, two years ago, Red had shot the her enemy, Bad Wolf. Instead of getting angry and eating her, Bad had simply laughed it off, a thing that he did frequently. More than that, though, Bad Wolf had actually made Red laugh, and Red had befriended him.

Alright, they weren't anywhere close to friends. During Red's sophomore year her and Bad met up and hung out. They talked, they ran, and occasionally they even kissed. Red would've gone as far as to say that she had fallen in love with the Big Bad Wolf, but before she had the chance to tell him, the year ended.

They hadn't really thought about what they'd do once the year ended. Red had always supposed that they would talk about it when they got there, but they never got the chance. Bad's parents had sent him to live with his uncle, the previous big, bad wolf. He'd promised to write, but he never had. Red supposed that he must've met some other girl, one that his parents would approve of.

Red sighed and stared at the forested path in front of her. No one was watching. No one would know if she talked to Bad as more than just a passing acquaintance. Red shook her head. She hadn't spoken to Bad in years. He had probably changed. After all, he had spent the past two years with his Hood-hating relatives.

Taking one last look behind her to the village that she called home, Red entered the forest. She was in Wolf territory now.

* * *

One hour.

That was how long Red had been wandering around the forest, trying to find her grandmother's house. It was hopeless. It seemed like every turn she took led her to a deeper, denser area of the woods. She had never been this far in the forest before, all of the territory around her was unfamiliar.

Red took a deep breath. "Come on, Red," she muttered to herself, "You can do this. Just think, what would Grace or Marian do?"

She could easily see what her friends would do in her place. Grace would climb a tree and try to get an areal view. Marian would probably shoot something. Seeing as Red didn't have a bow or a weapon of any other kind on herself, she'd have to climb a tree.

Red stuck her foot in a hole in the tree nearest to her. Carefully, she hoisted herself up. "Come on, Red," she encouraged herself, trying to take her mind of her dreadful fear of heights.

"You're going to get yourself killed," a gruff voice said from behind her, causing Red to let out a yelp and lose her footing on the tree. She hit the ground with a thud.

Dusting herself off, Red looked at the figure leaning smugly against a nearby tree. She didn't know how it was possible, but Bad Wolf was hotter than he had been the last time Red saw him. He was taller, probably around six five now, with his jaw more chiseled and his arm muscles more defined. He was wearing flannel and a pair of jeans with boots. His hair hung loose around his face, stopping at his chin, which was covered in stubble.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Red said.

Bad smiled and shrugged. "Better late than never," he said.

"Whatever," Red let out a small chuckle, "Do you know how to get to my grandmother's house."

Bad's eyebrow shot up. "Straight to the point, eh? That's not very like you."

"How do you know? We haven't seen each other in two years. A lot has changed since then."

"Like what?" Bad challenged.

"Like...like," Red paused, trying to think of what had changed. Marian and Robin were still on again off again. Grace and Dashing were still dating. Evi was still a narcissistic pain in the posterior. She was still on the track team. She was still hopelessly in love with Bad Wolf. Great, Red sighed, nothing had changed. Except, of course, Bad himself. "You," Red pointed out.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"How have I changed?" Bad asked, moving to stand beside Red.

"You're taller," she pointed out.

"So are you."

Red snorted. "Hardly."

Bad shrugged. "You're different, though," he said, "And trust me, you're taller. You used to only come up to my chin."

"And I still only come up to your chin."

"But I've grown," Bad said, "So, you have too."

"Touché."

There was a pause in the conversation as Red tried to think of something to say. What do you say when you see your ex boyfriend who's supposed to be your arch enemy? Was he even her ex? They technically hadn't dated. She hadn't talked to Bad in years, and here they were, skating around the important topics.

"So, how are Marian and Grace?"

"They're good," Red said, "How've you been?"

"I've been good," Bad said.

"And how was your uncle?"

"He was good...well...not good-bad."

"Oh. Did you learn a lot?"

Bad sighed. "Is this really what you want to talk about, Red?" he asked.

"I don't know. It's not like there's much else to talk about. We haven't seen each other in two years. I mean, it's not like you made an effort to stay in touch."

"Neither did you," Bad said.

Red knew that this was true. Neither of them had made much of an effort to stay in touch. She supposed that they had moved on. That what they had shared was nothing more than two idiotic teenagers thinking that they were in love. She almost laughed at that. There had been a time when she'd swore she was going to marry Bad Wolf, despite what everyone in her family said.

"There wasn't much to talk about," Red shrugged, "I mean, school is school."

Bad stared at her, seeming to see into her soul. It made Red shift uncomfortably. "I suppose," he said, "that I'm supposed to agree with you and say that nothing interesting happened to me too?"

Red had no idea why Bad was asking he this. They were done. Over. They hadn't talked to each other in two years. That was a lot of time. Tons of things could happen in two years, even if nothing had. Even if Red hadn't been able to get over Bad Wolf, even when Dashing Charming's ridiculously hot cousin asked her out on a date. Even then, Bad had been in the back of her mind. It made Red want to scream.

"You know," Bad said suddenly, "There was this incredibly beautiful princess working in the town I was living, and she was totally into me."

Red stared at Bad. _Why was he telling her this?_ She didn't want to hear about this _perfect_ girl that Bad had gone out with. She didn't want to hear how Bad had gotten over her when she couldn't.

"She liked bad boys, you see? And I'm bad boy extraordinaire. She kept asking me out to this restaurant and that extremely fancy ball. I went with her."

"That's nice," Red croaked, trying to get Bad to shut up.

"And do you know what? We went to these fancy balls, places that I could never afford to go to, and I hated it. I kept thinking about how much more fun it would be to be on a picnic with you."

Red froze. _What?_

" _You_. My supposed arch enemy who didn't even bother to stay in touch with me. I felt like such an idiot. I realized something when I was staying with my uncle, and I know you don't want to hear me say this, Red, but I have to. I'm in love with you, and I have been since you shot me with an arrow."

Red stared at Bad. Had he just confessed that he was in love with her while he was supposed to be giving her the wrong directions? It appeared that he had. She had dreamed of this so many times since she was sixteen, but she had never thought that is would actually happen.

"Me too."

Bad stared at her. "What?"

"I'm in love with you too. I think I've been in love with you for a while."

"That's good," Bad said with a grin, and Red grinned back.

She was sure that both of them looked like idiots, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf standing in the middle of the forest grinning. What would her mother say? At the moment, though, Red didn't care. She didn't care about what her mother, or her uncle, or her grandmother would say. She didn't care that Wolfs and Hoods didn't get along. She didn't care that the goodies in her basket were getting cold. She didn't care that there was physically no way that the two of them could work out without breaking every rule in Ever After history. All that Red cared about in this moment was Bad Wolf and the idiotic grin that was covering his handsome face. She could care about the rest of that stuff later. Right now was for her and Bad.


	34. Here, There Be Dragons

"We are not having a dragon at our wedding!"

"She's not just a dragon!" Grace shouted, "She's my friend!"

It was the same argument that they'd been having for the past months. During her months in captivity, Grace had grown rather fond of the dragon that had kidnapped her, going on adventures and exploring together. Evermore, as the dragon was named, had become a close friend. It was only natural for Grace to want to invite her to her wedding.

Dashing thought otherwise.

"Do you know what my mother would do to me if a dragon showed up at our wedding? And not just any dragon, the dragon that kidnapped my bride!"

"For the last time," Grace said, "she didn't kidnap me. I ran away."

"I'm aware of this fact," Dashing said, taking a seat on the loveseat, "But my mother isn't. If she, or my father, found out that there was no actual kidnapping or rescuing involved, she would burst into flames."

Grace chuckled at the thought of Queen Charming bursting into flames. Dashing glared at her. "It's not funny."

"Actually," Grace said, "It kind of is."

Dashing grinned. "It is, isn't it?"

Grace nodded and sat down next to her fiance. "This is all so hard." Grace rested her head on Dashing's shoulder. "How about we just elope?"

"How about you two get off of my loveseat?" Grace stuck her tongue out at Marian, who was standing before her wearing...Was that a dress? Why was Marian wearing a dress? Marian groaned. "Honestly, you two are going to make us late for the wedding. Need I remind you that we were the _only_ people invited?"

"That's not true," Dashing said, "Robin was invited." Grace watched her friend's face, trying to discern any true reaction at the mention of her destiny. Marian showed none. She slung her quiver over her back, ruining the red dress that Grace had loaned her. They had both decided to wear red-to honor the bride.

"Are you coming?" Marian asked, standing by the door. Grace hopped up, quickly followed by Dashing.

"Don't think that we're done with this discussion."

Dashing huffed. "Of course not."

Grace grinned in response and followed Marian out the door.

* * *

Grace glanced around the venue, if she could call it that. Unlike the castles and churches that Grace had been forced to visit over the past month, Red and Bad were getting married in the forest, with the trees and night sky over their heads. The officiator that they had found was none other that Giles Grimm. Grace wondered how they had managed to find him and make him swear to keep their union a secret.

"I honestly don't know what took them this long," Marian muttered to Grace, "It's been three years since we graduated."

"Some people like to wait," Grace whispered back.

"And some people like to go off gallivanting with dragons." Grace felt her cheeks heat at her friend's remark. It wasn't like she'd had much of a choice. After a year of nothing happening, her parents had been ready to lock her in a tower and throw away the key. There had even been talk of hiring a griffin. Evermore had been her way out.

Grace's undoubtedly witty remark was cut off by the entrance of Red. Grace could honestly say that she'd never seen the girl look more beautiful. She was beaming. Literally beaming.

Red walked down the aisle, or what they were calling the aisle, with her bouquet in hand, wearing a simple black dress with a red cape that was nothing like the miles of fluffy white lace that Grace would be stuffed into. She smiled shyly at Bad, who had managed to scrounge up a suit, even if it did look a little worn.

Dashing took her hand as they began reciting their vows and gave it a small squeeze. Grace glanced at him with a smile, than briefly at Marian, who was looking at the two with a sort of longing. Right. Marian didn't have anyone. Not in the sense that the rest of them did. Robin hadn't even bothered to show up. He'd been too busy elsewhere to show up to their friends' wedding.

"The day that we first spoke," Bad Wolf said, looking at Red with nothing short of pure adoration in his eyes, "I followed you into the forest, and you shot me with an arrow. I knew that I should have been enraged and threatened you, but the expression of pure shock on your face made me pause. And when that shock transformed into determination, I could not help but laugh.

That homecoming when Robin asked me to go with the group I did not even hesitate. You were my arch enemy, you were a full head shroter than me, you were only sixteen, yet you didn't even flinch when I bared my teeth.

When we finally escaped, to sit under the stars where no one else could see us, I realized that I was falling in love with you, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. Trust me when I say that I tried, but nothing would change. My heart has been yours, Red, since the day that you struck it with that arrow, and it will be yours for the rest of time. They say that Cupid isn't real, and that his arrows are just a myth, but that arrow must have been magical, for I know that you are."

Red's eyes were glistening. She smiled up at Bad, looking like she was ready to devour him then and there. Instead, she pulled a piece of paper from the folds of her cape. "When I first met you, Bad Wolf, I was horrified. I may not have shown it, but I was. It surprised me that you made me laugh, that you were a joker. My friends always said that I would need a man who could make me laugh until I cried. I think, that I have found that man."

"You're talking about me, right?" Bad asked.

Red giggled. "Yes, Bad. I'm talking about you."

Bad Wolf grinned then, before swooping down to kiss Red. Grace heard Dashing sigh beside her, ever the romantic. Red and Bad turned to their friends. Congratulations were given, before Bad and Red disappeared for the night, leaving the three of them alone.

"That was nice," Marian said, sitting on the forest ground. Really Marian? For the love of all things good and pure, that dress was designer. It had cost Grace a fortune. Instead of saying anything, Grace just sat down next to her in her own designer dress.

"Yes," she said, "It was." She glanced up at Dashing. "We could do that."

Dashing shook his head. "No we couldn't." Grace nodded, because he was right. They were royals. Certain things were expected from them that weren't from others like Red, Bad, Marian, and even Robin.

"We're still inviting Evermore."

"We'll see about that."

Beside her, Marian laughed. "Don't even bother, Dash," she said, "We both know that if Grace really wants something, she'll go all spoiled princess and get her way. Or she'll do the hair thing."

"What hair thing?" Dashing asked.

Marian's eyes widened as Grace shook her head. "Interesting," she said. She stood up abruptly. "Wow, look at the time. I really must be going. People to put in jail, bounties to collect. I'll be seeing you."

"What's she talking about?" Dashing asked as Marian fled the scene.

"I have no idea," Grace said innocently.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I'll pretend that I believe you," Dashing said, "And…"

"And?"

"I'll even invite Evermore to the wedding. Let's just make sure not to tell my mother that she's a dragon until it's too late."

"Agreed."

"Good." Dashing offered her his arm. Grace accepted it and was hoisted up.

"This is going to be one of the boringest weddings in the history of weddings," Grace said as they exited the forest.

Dashing smiled. "Well, it is a Charming wedding."

"I suppose you're right," Grace agreed, "At least there will be dragons at this one. It will make it much better."


	35. Just Her Luck

Once upon a time, Holly O'Hair had a crush on Daring Charming. It wasn't as if it were unusual for a girl at Ever After High to have a crush on the eldest Charming prince, plenty of people did. She could name ten princesses off of the top of her head who had a crush on Daring Charming at one point in time. Holly knew that her crush was just that-a crush-and would pass given time. Still, two years later, and Holly's sixteen year old crush was her Senior crush.

Holly sighed as she double tapped one of Daring's bookpage posts. He was just so clever, and handsome. With a smile that would dazzle the stars.

"What are you doing?" Poppy asked.

"Nothing," Holly said.

Poppy nodded suspiciously. "You better not be bookpage stalking Daring Charming."

"It's not stalking if he just happens to show up on my feed," Holly said.

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it's not!"

"Yes-"

"Girls!" The twins whirled around at the sound of their grandmother's voice. She was standing in front of them with her arms crossed. Oh, crud. The last thing that Holly wanted to do was annoy her grandmother(on account of her being a witch and all). "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Holly said. Poppy, on the other hand, just smirked.

"I'm helping Holly get over her crush."

Holly glared at her sister. She really did not want her grandmother's help on this. Her help was never good.

"Oh really," Nana said, clapping her hands together like a schoolgirl, "That's just wonderful. You know what you need to do, Holly dearest? You need to go on a date with a nice, young man. That will get your crush off of your mind."

Holly continued to glare at her sister. Especially, as she spoke up, "I think that's a wonderful idea, Nana."

 _I don't._

"What about that nice boy from your work, Poppy? The one with the blue hair?"

"He doesn't swing that way," Poppy said. Holly snorted, most of the guys at Poppy's work didn't swing that way.

"Oh," Nana said, "That's a shame. He was a really nice young man." It only took her half a second before she was thinking of boys for Holly to go out with again. "I have just the boy, Holly. Don't worry. One of the witches in my coven has a son around your age. I'll give her a call."

Holly glared at Poppy as their grandmother retreated to the kitchen and the landline that she kept there. Poppy gave Holly an innocent smile. "What?"

"You know what," Holly said, "I want to marry a prince, not some Witch Boy."

"Who said that you have to marry him?"

"It's...it's...that's how it works."

Poppy laughed. "Maybe in the olden days. Remember, I dated Sparrow for three months. We're not going to get married. Ever. Trust me."

"Still...I wanted it to be special."

"No one said that you have to kiss the boy. Just go on a date with him."

"I don't have much of a choice here, do I?" Holly asked with a sigh.

"No, you don't."

"Fine, I'll go."

Poppy squeezed her in a hug. "You're the bestest sister ever after."

"I know."

* * *

Holly glared at the mirror in front of her. Never, ever in her entire life had Holly O'Hair been on a date. She'd once tagged along with Hunter, Ashlynn, and a friend of theirs, but that wasn't a date. This, on the other hand, was. It was her first ever date, and it was with a total stranger who also happened to be a witch. _A witch!_

She did not see the need to dress up for her date with Witch Boy.

"Are you really wearing that?" Poppy asked as she entered their shared dorm room.

Holly glanced at her outfit in the mirror. She had decided that she could dress casually for this date. After all, they were only going out for coffee, and she was not planning on going on a second date with Witch Boy. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue sweater, her red hair piled on top of her head in a bun. Instead of her contacts, Holly was wearing a pair of thick, purple glasses.

She shrugged. "Yeah. Why? Do you have something wrong with it?"

"Are you really sure that you want to wear the glasses?" Poppy asked. "It might give him the wrong idea."

"Which is?"

"That you never want to go out on a date with him again."

Holly grinned. "That's the right idea."

Poppy groaned. "Alright," she said, "You should go. You don't want to be late."

"I don't want to go," Holly muttered.

Fifteen minutes later, Holly found herself sitting at a table in The Royal Grounds, a coffee shop located on the far side of Book End, a caramel mocha in front of her. Her date was late. Holly frowned into her cup. That would be just wonderful, wouldn't it? Poppy would laugh her head off; Holly O'Hair stood up by a Witch Boy that she didn't even want to go on a date with in the first place.

She could die from the embarrassment.

Holly pulled out her phone and opened up bookpage. She was met by a photo of a smiling Apple White with an equally happy Daring Charming. Holly groaned and banged her head on the table. That was just her luck. Apple was on her monthly date with Daring, which meant that Holly would get minute by minute updates of how Apple's absolutely perfect date was going.

Meanwhile, Holly was stuck on a date with Witch Boy. That is if he ever bothered to show.

Which he hadn't.

Holly silently cursed her luck.

"Are you okay?"

Holly looked up to be met by a pair of crystal blue eyes that sparkled like literal sapphires rimmed by thick, dark eyelashes. She smiled at the wavy black hair and chiseled jawline that accompanied those eyes. Her smile turned into a frown when she noticed the 'Hecate's Academy for Witchcraft' t-shirt.

"Yeah," Holly said, "I'm fine." This wasn't fair! Witch Boy was not allowed to be cute. He was supposed to be green and covered in warts. Not-

"Are you Holly?" Holly nodded and Witch Boy sat down in the seat across from her. "I'm Mordred. My mom's in the same coven as your grandmother."

"I know," Holly said. She was saved from having to make small talk by the waitress, who sat a plain, black coffee down in front of Mordred, flashing him a flirtatious grin as she did so. If he noticed, Mordred didn't pay any attention.

For some odd reason that satisfied Holly.

"So," she said, "you go to Hecate's?"

"Yeah," Mordred said, "You go to Ever After?"

"Yeah," Holly nodded. She glanced at the clock on the wall. She had two hours before she could call Poppy to pick her up. This was going to take forever.

"I'm going to be honest," Mordred said, "I don't really do the whole dating this. I've never even been on a date with a girl."

"Me neither," Holly said. This was good. This was common ground. She could work with this. "My sister's the one who dates."

"You have a sister?"

"A twin, actually," Holly said, "Her name's Poppy."

"So, who's older? You or her?"

"Technically I am," Holly said.

Mordred raised an eyebrow. "Technically?"

"Yeah," Holly said, "My grandma delivered us, so it's hard to be sure exactly. She's not exactly the best at keeping things straight." _Why was she telling him this?_ She'd agreed to never tell anyone that she was the younger twin. Why was she telling a total stranger? "So, what about you? So you have any siblings?"

"One," Mordred said, "An older sister."

"Does she do magic too?"

Mordred nodded. "She's loads better than I am. Plus, she's really hard set on her destiny and all that."

Holly cringed. She'd rather avoid talk of destinies. Ever since Raven Queen's diabolical sophomore year, the class had been split, and Holly with them. "What's her destiny?" Holly found herself asking despite her better judgement.

"She's going to be the next Morgan Le Fey," Mordred said, staring at his coffee.

"Which makes you the next Mordred?"

"Technically, no," Mordred said.

Holly raised her eyebrow. "No?"

"Yeah," Mordred said, "the next Mordred's my cousin. So, are you the next Repunzel?"

Holly nodded. "Yes. So, what's it like to be able to perform magic?"

Mordred let out a sigh of relief at the change of topic. "Would you like a demonstration?" Holly nodded. A second later a blue orb sparked to life in Mordred's hand, moving round and round like a ball of water.

"Wow," Holly murmured in awe.

"Would you like to try?"

Holly shook her head. "I can't do magic."

"Nonsense," Mordred said, "Your grandmother's a witch. You have magic in your blood."

"I don't think that I should."

"Come on, Holly. You'll never know if you don't try."

Holly eyed the boy in front of her. Mordred was looking at her with such hope in his eyes. He actually seemed to believe that she'd be able to perform magic. It was complete and total nonsense. She sighed. "Fine," Holly said, "What do I have to do?"

Mordred grinned. "You need to concentrate on what you want to happen. Take this cup for example." He gestured to the coffee in front of him. "You need to picture it floating and it will. Like this." Mordred looked his coffee cup. Holly gasped as the cup glowed blue and floated off the table. "Now, you try."

Holly concentrated on her coffee cup. Just image it floating. Just imagine it floating. Holly closed her eyes and picture the cup. She focused on the bottom of the cup. Mentally, she added little bits of energy to the base. She shivered as she felt her fingers tingle.

"There you go," Mordred said.

Holly opened her eyes and grinned. Just a few feet in front of her was her caramel mocha being held off of the table by a cloud of pink energy. Amazed, she looked at Mordred. "Did I do that?"

"Yes. Try moving it." Holly concentrated on moving the cup. Inch by inch it floated across the table to Mordred. He smiled at her.

Without warning, Mordred enveloped her small cloud of pink magic in his own glowing blue orb. Holly gasped. Mordred hadn't moved from his spot across from her, but it felt like he was holding her hand. His magic felt like it was tenderly holding hers.

"You're good at this."

"Thanks," Holly smiled sheepishly, relishing the feeling of his magic over hers. She had no idea that anything could feel this good. It was...magical.

"Holly!?"

The moment was shattered. Holly's cup dropped, spilling mocha all over Mordred. Holly flashed her date an apologetic look before turning around to meet her worst fears.

Apple White was standing only a few feet away from their table, her hair and makeup applied perfectly, wearing a dress that looked like it belonged on a princess(which she was). Beside her, was Daring Charming, looking equally as perfect. Holly felt her stomach plummet. Things were going so well. She hadn't thought about Daring in the past hour.

This was just her luck.

"That is you!" Apple said, coming to stand beside their table, "I didn't recognize you with glasses on."

Holly wanted to bang her head on the table. Why her? Why did things like this always happen to her?

"Oh," Apple said, not noticing the awkwardness between all members of the table, "Who's your friend?"

"This is Mordred," Holly said. She turned to Mordred. "Mordred, this is Apple White and Daring Charming. We go to school together."

Mordred smile seemed forced. "It's nice to meet you," he greeted Apple. He ignored Daring. Holly raised her eyebrows. What was that about?

"Wait a spell, is this a date?"

"Um..." Holly glanced at Mordred. Was this a date? Technically, it was, but they hadn't talked about it being a date at all. Could she see herself with him? Yes. Could he see himself with her? Holly didn't know.

"Yes," Mordred said, "It is a date." Holly felt like a weight was lifted from her chest.

"That's wonderful!" Apple exclaimed, "I'm so happy for you."

Holly smiled. "Thanks."

"Do you mind if we join you?" Apple asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Daring spoke for the first time that evening.

Apple turned to him. "What? Why?"

"I think that Daring's right," Mordred agreed. Apple groaned as Daring dragged her away and waved goodbye.

Holly faced her date. "So, what was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"What's going on with you and Daring?"

Mordred shrugged. "He's my cousin," he said, "We don't get along."

Holly blinked. Mordred was Daring Charming's cousin. But that would make him a Charming. This was unfair. He couldn't be cute, nice, and a Charming. "You're a Charming?"

Mordred nodded. "Technically. My dad's his dad's cousin. They don't really like to talk about us, since he married my mom, and she's evil. That's a big no no in the family."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mordred said, "So, technically I'm a prince. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Did you go out with Daring, or something?"

"Well," Holly said, "Once upon a time I had a crush on Daring."

"What about now?"

"No," Holly said, "I don't have a crush on him anymore."

Mordred smiled. He snapped his fingers and the mocha stain was removed from his shirt. "So, should I get you another mocha?"

It was an open question. He was giving her the chance to leave if she wanted to. Holly smiled back. "Sounds good," she said.

Once upon a time, Holly O'Hair had a crush on Daring Charming. It wasn't as if it were unusual for a girl at Ever After High to have a crush on the eldest Charming prince, plenty of people did. She could name ten princesses off of the top of her head who had a crush on Daring Charming.

She couldn't name a single one who had a crush on a witch boy.

That was just her luck.


	36. Scarlet Letter

"Where do you think you are going young lady?"

Scarlet Charming froze. She was so close. So close to freedom and spending the summer in Neverland like Mel had offered instead of going to that dreadful werewolf camp that her parents wanted her to go to. She was so, so close.

"I'm going over to Mel's," Scarlet offered, trying to look her father directly in the eye. She failed.

"I don't think so," Daring Charming crossed his arms, "You are going to camp tomorrow whether you like it or not."

"But, Dad," Scarlet whined, "Brick gets to spend the summer at Uncle Dex's."

"Brick is nineteen," Daring said, "You are seventeen, therefor you have no control over your summer plans."

This was totally unfair. Scarlet huffed. So what if she was a werewolf? So what if out of her and Brick she was the one who showed more werewolfish tendencies? She didn't want to go to some stupid werewolf camp to learn about werewolf culture. It was not her idea of a fun time.

"The other kids will be mean to me," Scarlet said, trying to appeal to her father's protective side.

"If they're mean to you, then you sock 'em in the jaw." Scarlet groaned. There was her mother. Just as she was about to get her father to relent, Cerise Hood Charming had to come and ruin it. Typical.

"I can do that," Scarlet said, "but it doesn't mean that they'll like me. My own cousin's don't like me." It was true. Ramona Badwolf had married a full blooded werewolf, so all of her four children viewed themselves as better than Scarlet. Which they weren't. Scarlet was still faster than the best of them.

"They don't have to like you," Cerise said, "This is werewolf camp, not princess training. Unless, of course, you'd rather go to that for the summer."

And that was how Scarlet Charming, only daughter of Daring Charming, star of the Ever After High track team, found herself standing in the middle of a dusty road staring at cabins in the middle of nowhere. At least they have cabins, Scarlet thought to herself. She had been afraid that they would be forced to sleep under the moon.

Scarlet picked up her duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder. Why couldn't she be in Neverland right now with Mel? According to her friend, it was a lot of fun to spend the summer on the magical island. Why couldn't she be in Neverland, or at Uncle Dex's with Brick, or at school? Anywhere but at werewolf camp.

"As usual, you get the short end of the stick," Scarlet muttered to herself, "Sucks to be you."

Seriously, why couldn't she be anyone else? She would give anything to be as popular as her cousin Maggie, or as smart as Joy, or as beautiful as Lavender, or as cool as Rosemary(that's right, she just called a thirteen year old cool). Wow, Scarlet. Real pathetic.

Scarlet pulled herself out of her thoughts and went in search for the cabin information. It had to be somewhere in the godforsaken camp. Scarlet located the building that appeared to be the main hall and headed for it. A few kids were hanging around, some of them checking out the list on the wall.

"Yes!" exclaimed a white haired girl a few years younger than Scarlet in front of the list, as Scarlet came to a stop only a few feet away from her. The girl grinned at Scarlet. "I'm in Lupus. I knew that'd I get in Lupus this year," she said, "What are you in?"

Scarlet eyed the list. The name Scarlet Charming, or Scarlet Hood, or S. H. C. did not appear under any of the cabins. "My name's not on the list," Scarlet said.

The girl nodded. "You must be new here then," she said, "You won't be part of a pack until tonight. I'm Fay, by the way."

"Scarlet," Scarlet introduced herself, "What do you mean about the whole pack thing?"

"Well," Fay said, "There are four packs: Lupus, Shakaha, Vakasin, and Badwolf. They're named after the four biggest packs in Ever After. Each pack is led by an Alpha, they usually come from the pack that they're in charge of. Does that make sense?"

Scarlet wanted to say that none of this made sense. She did not understand werewolves, and she never would. It wasn't as if she needed to know anything about this for her life. She was a princess, not a werewolf. Well, technically, she was both. Instead, she nodded.

"Anyways," Fay continued, "if you're new, you compete in a few activities tonight, and then all of the new kids join a pack. Then, the four packs spend the summer competing. The two most powerful packs are Lupus and Badwolf, so they're really selective in who gets to be part of their pack. I was in Shakaha last year, and I had a lot of fun. We still didn't win. Shakaha and Vakasin never win."

Scarlet nodded. "Right," she said, "So, what you're telling me is that I won't have a place to put my suitcase until tonight. And then I get last pick of bunk."

"Correct," Fay nodded, "It kind of sucks your first year. But I promise, it's tons of fun. Especially the next year."

"I'm not planning on there being a next year," Scarlet muttered.

Fay, being a werewolf, heard her. "Why not?"

Scarlet sighed. "I didn't want to come to this camp in the first place. I could be in Neverland right now."

"I'm sure that Neverland is nowhere near as cool as here," Fay said, "I'll see you at the bonfire tonight." The girl waved at Scarlet and skipped away.

Great, now what was Scarlet supposed to do? Was she supposed to wait for the bonfire and whatever competitions there were supposed to be? Scarlet set her duffle bag down and took a seat on the steps. She pulled out her phone and texted Mel, who had sent her a picture saying that she missed her. Scarlet replied with a sad face emoji.

She was in hell.

"Scarlet? Scarlet Charming?"

Shit.

Scarlet stood up and plastered a smile on her face as she faced her cousin. Celina, the eldest Badwolf closest to Scarlet's age, was standing in front of her, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Scarlet was a good half head taller than her cousin, but the girl still terrified her. Not that she'd let Celina see that. Celina took any sign of weakness as a chance to bully her.

"Celina," Scarlet said, "It's nice to see you." They both knew that those words were false. Scarlet dreaded few things more than gatherings with her mother's side of the family. Aunt Ramona was fine, but Celina, along with her siblings Lorelai, Keiran, and Blade, were horrible.

"I wish that I could say the same," Celina said, "What are you doing here?"

Scarlet shrugged. "Oh, you know. My parents wanted me to learn more about werewolf culture."

"Why?" Celina asked, "You're not a werewolf."

It took all of Scarlet's willpower not to spit in Celina's face. Why did she have to be so infuriating? She wasn't even a full werewolf herself. "It was nice catching up," Scarlet said. Quickly, she grabbed her duffle bag and walked away so that Celina couldn't catch up to her.

Why did she have to be cousins with such a stupid, bigoted, narcissistic bitch? She wondered if her mother's rule about punching mean werewolves would extend to her cousin. Probably not.

"Maybe if you punch her, then you'll be kicked out of this stupid camp forever," Scarlet muttered to herself. It was starting to appear more appealing by the minute.

Her parents would be so disappointed.

Scarlet wandered towards the forest located just past the cabins. If she left now, maybe her parents wouldn't notice. She was relatively smart. It was entirely possible that she would be able to convince them that she was at camp while she was really elsewhere...unless they decided to track her phone in which case she would be screwed. Dammit! Why did her parents have to be so smart?

Scarlet dropped her bag at the edge of the forest and took a seat on top of a pile of leaves. She had been in worse situations before. There was the that her mother had decided to take them camping and Scarlet had gotten lost for over a day, and all of the times that Brick had done something stupid that landed the two of them in trouble. Scarlet could get through this. She could survive the summer, but that did not mean that she would enjoy it.

"It would be a million times better if Celina weren't here," Scarlet muttered to herself. After all, Fey didn't seem that bad, and if everyone else at the camp was as enthusiastic as the small girl, then it couldn't be that bad.

She wished that she had Brick here. If both her and her brother were there then it would be better. Brick had a way of making everything fun.

"It's our best chance at winning this year." The sound of footsteps crunching through the forest underbrush pulled Scarlet out of her thoughts. Scarlet stood up as the owner of the voice came into her sight.

Two guys stood in front of her. Both of them were tall, with broad shoulders and chiseled features. The one who was speaking had blond hair much like her brother's, and brown eyes. The other one had curly brown hair and bright green eyes that popped against his olive complexion. They were both extremely Hot. With a capital H.

"Can we help you?" the blond one asked as Scarlet realized that she had been staring. Scarlet blushed and shook her head.

"No," she said, "I just thought that I was alone out here."

"Right." The blond one nodded and started to walk in the direction of camp.

"I'm Jack," said the brown haired one, "and this is my cousin, Luca." Luca turned around and stared acusitorilly at Jack.

"I'm Scarlet," Scarlet said.

"That's a nice name," Jack said causing Scarlet to turn the same shade as her namesake.

"Well, it's my name." Wow, she sounded like an idiot. What was with her? Scarlet never got distracted by boys. She never blushed around them.

"Oh, save me," Luca drawled.

"Are you new here?" asked Jack.

"Yeah." Scarlet nodded. "It's my first year."

"You can drop your stuff off in the mess hall," Jack said, "since you probably don't want to carry it around until bonfire."

"That's a good idea," Scarlet agreed, but made no move to leave. She didn't exactly know where the mess hall was.

"Here's an idea," Luca said, drawing the attention of both Scarlet and Jack, "You can show her where the mess hall is, Jack."

"I'd love to," Jack said.

"Good," said Luca, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go claim my bunk before all of the good ones are taken." With that said, Luca stomped off in the direction of camp. Scarlet and Jack watched him leave.

"He seems…"

"Like a pain in the ass?" Jack offered.

Scarlet smiled. "That wasn't the way that I would say it."

"It's true." Jack shrugged. "But he's my best friend, and one hell of a strategist. So, I keep him around." Scarlet didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent as the two of them started walking towards camp. "So, where're you from?" Jack asked.

"Book End," Scarlet answered. It was close to the truth. Book End was the closest town to her family's castle.

"I'm from Sherwood Forest," Jack said.

"One of my cousin's best friend is from there," Scarlet said. Why did she say that? It was highly unlikely that Jack knew Duke Hood at all. "You probably don't know him. I have no idea why I said that."

"It's okay." Jack offered her a smile. "Do you mind if I ask who the werewolf in your family is?"

Scarlet shook her head. "It's my mom," she said, "She's half wolf. You?"

"Mom and Dad," he said, "They grew up in the same pack, so they were practically destined to be together." They rounded the corner and came up to the building that Scarlet had previously recognized at the main hall. Apparently, she wasn't that far off. . "This is the mess hall," Jack said, "Breakfast is in here each morning at eight, and dinner's at six."

"What about lunch?" Scarlet asked, studying the building. It wasn't nearly as bad as she had imagined a mess hall at a werewolf camp would be.

"Lunch is whatever your pack decides to make," Jack said, "If you like food then I recommend that you try to join Vakasin. Their alpha wants to be a chef and makes the best food in camp."

Scarlet nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. What pack are you in?"

"Lupus," Jack said with a grin, "The best one. If you need any help feel free to stop by."

"Thanks," Scarlet said.

"I guess that I'll see you later, then," Jack said.

"Yeah." Scarlet readjusted her back on her shoulder and walked into the mess hall.

There were about ten kids in the mess hall, all of them younger than Scarlet was. The youngest of them appeared to be around twelve while the oldest appeared to be around fifteen. There was no one even close to her age. Scarlet dropped her bag on one of the wooden tables and took a seat. She took out her phone to see if Mel had sent her anything.

Nothing.

"Scarlet!" a small voice exclaimed. Scarlet glanced up from her phone as her twelve year old cousin, Blade, took a seat next to her. "If it isn't my favorite cousin."

Scarlet smiled. Blade was mostly harmless by himself. The boy couldn't tell his right from his left, but he was nowhere near as bad as Celina. "Brick is your favorite cousin."

Blade shrugged. "Brick isn't here right now," he said, "So, you're my favorite cousin."

"Thanks, Blade."

"No problem." The twelve year old grinned.

* * *

The bonfire blazed in the middle of camp. It was tall, at least the height of the cabins that surrounded it if not taller. The newcomers stood on the front porch of the mess hall in a clustered group. None of them yet had a pack, and they all seemed to recognize that in one another. Maybe it was written in the werewolf DNA.

"'Scuse me." Scarlet tore her gaze away from the roaring bonfire to find a tall, blue haired boy around her age standing only a few feet away from her. He held up his phone. "You mind?" he asked, "You're blocking the aux plug."

"Sorry," Scarlet apologized, moving out of the way so that the blue haired boy could reach the auxiliary cord plug located in the side of the mess hall. "Why would anyone place that there?" Scarlet mused out loud.

"You tell me," the blue haired guy said.

"I wouldn't know," Scarlet said, "This is my first time here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a little old for a first-timer?"

"Yes," Scarlet answered, "But try telling my parents that. It's impossible. I'm Scarlet, by the way."

"Jake," the blue haired boy said, "I'm the beta of Vakasin."

"The beta?"

"Yeah," Jake said, "You know, the second in command." Scarlet nodded like she actually understood what Jake had just said. Werewolf pack politics didn't exactly make sense to her. Then again, she doubted that any of the kids at camp had spent their childhood memorizing the many branches of their family tree so that they knew who was in line for which throne. "I'm DJing after the pack choosing ceremony."

"What exactly does the pack choosing ceremony entail?" Scarlet asked.

"It's a race," Jake said.

"A race?"

"Well they can't exactly expect newbies to be great at hand-to-hand combat, can they?" Jake asked, "A race tests a wolf's natural physic. You can't fake speed." Scarlet nodded. A race didn't seem that bad. After all, she was the fastest girl on the Ever After High track team. "Oh," Jake added, "And they'll want you to transform."

Scarlet gulped. "Transform?"

"Yeah," Jake said, "You can tell a lot about a person by their wolf. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Thanks," Scarlet muttered, her voice suddenly hoarse.

Never, in the seventeen years that Scarlet Charming had been alive, had she transformed into a wolf. All full werewolves transformed by the time that they were five, all half werewolves transformed by the time that they were ten, but quarter wolves? There weren't many quarter wolves in the world. Scarlet supposed that there were some, but it wasn't as if she knew who they were, or how to contact them.

The werewolf gene was dominant, meaning that every descendant of a werewolf had the speed, the smell, the wolf ears, and the anger that went along with being a wolf, but how many traits a person displayed varied. For instance, Brick and Scarlet both possessed the the wolf ears, the enhanced hearing, and the speed from the werewolf gene, but Scarlet was faster than Brick with a much shorter temper.

Long story short, Scarlet Charming was very much a werewolf, but she had never actually transformed into a wolf. She didn't even know if she could.

"Campers!" The crowd quieted down as a dark skinned man with a bald head stepped in front of the newbies. "Welcome to Wild Rock Camp." The crowd irrupted into cheers, shouts, and howls.  
I am the wonderful and magnificent Wulfrun Shakaha. Y'all may have heard of me before."

Beside her, Jakes snorted. "He's never been anything other than the camp director," he explained, "So he's not exactly famous. It's not like he's a Badwolf or something."

"Right." Scarlet nodded.

"But you can call me Wulfrun. Now,," Wulfrun said, turning to face the newbies, "This is the part of camp that we call the choosing ceremony. Each of you will be placed in a pack based on your abilities." He turned to look at the campers. "Each pack must have at least one new addition."

"What?!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

Wolfrun glared in the direction of the voice. "It's a new rule this year to discourage any of the shit that went on last year. Now, the rules of the choosing are simple. You must make one lap around the exterior of the cabins and transform. You start here, and you end here."

"Good luck," Jake whispered to Scarlet.

"Thanks."

"The race starts in five." Wulfrun held a hand and began counting down with his fingers. "Four." Scarlet glanced down at her shoes. At least she was wearing tennis shoes and not boots or heels. "Three." Scarlet placed one foot in front of another, readying herself. "Two." The wolfblood was pumping through her veins. This competition had triggered her competitive side. She wanted to win. She was going to win. Beside her, many of the new campers were doing the same. "One." Scarlet shot off like a scared rabbit.

Scarlet pulled towards the front of the group, which would have surprised her had she been thinking about anything other that the race. She was only a quarter werewolf yet she easily outran even the fastest of the group, pulling ahead of all of them so that there were several meters between her and the front of the group.

As they rounded the restroom, the group began to dissipate, the slowest falling behind while the faster campers pulled ahead ever more. Scarlet stayed ahead of all of them throughout it all. The wind running through her dark locks, brushing against her flushed cheeks, Scarlet let out a laugh. This was it. This was what Scarlet was made for.

Before she knew it, Scarlet was coming up on the mess hall. Scarlet slowed down just a fraction as she jogged up to the front porch. She came to a stop next to Wulfrun. "Have fun?" he asked.

"Yeah," Scarlet said, trying to steady her breathing. She wanted to run, and run, and run until she could run no more. Instead, she stayed still while the rest of the group trickled in. Her eyes widening as Blade Badwolf came in last.

"Poor kid," Jake muttered as Scarlet made her way back to her original spot in the group.

"I can't imagine that Celina will be happy about this," Scarlet said.

"I can't imagine that Celina will let him in Badwolf," Jake said, "That's alright, though, I just texted Adrian to tell him to let him in Vakasin. Just because his sister's a bitch doesn't mean that the kid himself is."

"That's nice of you," Scarlet said.

"I know." Jake grinned.

"That appears to be everyone," Wulfrun said, "Now, if the alphas would step forward so the we could begin the next part of the ceremony." Scarlet watched as two girls and two boys stepped forward from the crowd.

"I'm Cassandra Shakaha," said a tall, muscular, dark skinned girl with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, "Alpha of Shakaha."

"Celina Badwolf," said Scarlet's cousin, "Alpha of Badwolf."

"Adrian Vakasin," said a guy of average height with spiky black hair, "Alpha of Vakasin." Cheers erupted from what Scarlet assumed was the Vakasin pack. It was a while before they settled down. When they did, the last of the alphas stepped forward.

"Jack Lupus," he said, "Alpha of Lupus." As he said it, he met Scarlet's eyes and smiled almost shyly.

"Alrighty," Wulfrun said, and Scarlet tore her gaze away from Jack, "Blade Badwolf."

"Are they going in reverse order?" Scarlet wondered aloud as her cousin stepped forward and transformed into a small black wolf.

"It's alphabetical by last name," Jake said.

"Oh."

"We'll take him," said Adrian Vakasin. Wulfrun turned his questioning gaze on the other three alphas. All three of them shook their heads.

"Welcome to Vakasin, Blade," Wulfrun said. Scarlet could see the relief in Blade's eyes as if he hadn't thought that he would be picked by any pack. He walked over to a cheering group of Vakasin wolves. "Ansel Blue." Scarlet watched as a boy of about fourteen years stepped forward and transformed into a grey wolf.

"We'll take him," said Cassandra Shakaha. Once again, Wulfrun looked at the other three alphas. Once again, three alphas shook their heads. "Welcome to Shakaha, Ansel." Ansel walked over to join Cassandra's group of wolves.

"What's he doing?" Scarlet asked.

"He's making sure that there aren't any challengers," Jake answered.

"And if there are?"

"Then the alphas have to sort it out amongst themselves." Scarlet opened her mouth to ask how exactly the alphas sorted things out when Wulfrun called the next name.

"Scarlet Charming!"

Scarlet felt a hush fall over the crowd. Then she listened as they began to whisper. Scarlet Charming, they said, the daughter of Daring Charming and Cerise Hood. After all, everyone knew who Cerise Hood and Daring Charming were. It wasn't often the a werewolf married into a royal line, especially one with both Hood and Badwolf blood in her veins.

Scarlet took a few tentative steps forward until she came to a stop next to Wulfrun. "Umm…" Scarlet said quietly, "I can't...I can't transform." Wulfrun's eyes narrowed at her and Scarlet felt her throat go dry. Why couldn't her parents listen to her when she said that she wanted to go to Neverland? She wished that she was anywhere but here. She would rather be locked in a tower in Damsel-in-Distressing that standing in front of a pack of judgemental werewolves.

"You heard the girl," Wulfrun said, "Anyone?"

Scarlet wanted to disappear into the shadows. She stared at the ground, refusing to meet the gaze of anyone. It may have been a sign of weakness, but Scarlet didn't care. She just wanted to be in Neverland with Mel. Was that too much to ask?

"We'll take her." Scarlet glanced up to find her cousin's piercing blue gaze on her. Oh, no. This was not happening to her. She was not going to be forced to spend the summer answering to Cecila. Scarlet would die before she let that happen to her.

"We'll take her." Scarlet's head snapped in the direction of Jack's voice. He was staring at her with a look in his eyes that Scarlet couldn't name.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a standoff." Scarlet could hear the grin in Wulfrun's voice. He pulled a coin out of his pocket. "Celina, you get to call."

"Heads," Celina said as Wulfrun flicked the coin into the air. The coin spun and spun for what seemed like an eternity before landing in Wulfrun's hand, his fingers closing around it. Scarlet held her breath as he slapped the coin onto his hand. Tails. Scarlet let out a sigh of relief. "Scarlet, welcome to Lupus."

Scarlet glanced in the direction that Wulfrun gestured. She recognized Fey, who was standing there with a grin on her face, and Luca, who was studying her with a frown on his face and his arms crossed. With a glance at Jack, who was deep in thought, Scarlet walked over to the Lupus pack. She stood next to Fey.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were a Charming?" Fey whispered.

"You didn't tell me your last name," Scarlet replied.

"Oh. It's Silver."

A girl who looked like an older version of Fey stepped forward from the back of the pack to join the two of them. "I'm Fynn," the girl said, "beta of Lupus." Scarlet nodded. Fynn's calculating eyes glanced over Scarlet. She shifted under the weight of the other girl's stare. "You sure can run," Fynn finally said.

"Yeah, I can."

"I suppose that's due to the combination of wolf and Charming genes," Fynn said, "Anyways, welcome to Lupus."

"Thanks," Scarlet said.

* * *

The Lupus cabin was located relatively close to the main hall, only a short walk away from the forest. Scarlet followed Fey into the cabin. The main room held a kitchen, a table with no chairs and a map of camp placed on top of it, and a few old couches.

"Guys sleep in that door to the left," Fey said as the screen door slammed shut behind them. She walked to the right and opened another door. "This is the girls' room." Four bunk beds occupied the room, but only three beds were already claimed.

"This is my bed," Fey said jumping up to the only claimed top bunk. She had hung up a boy band poster on the wall next to it. "That's Fey's." She pointed towards a very neat, almost military like bed. "And that's Tessa's." The other occupied bottom bunk had a stack of books next to it. "You can put your stuff wherever."

Scarlet dropped her bag on one of the unclaimed bottom bunks. "Leave the unpacking for later," Fey said, "We've got a bonfire to go to." Scarlet left her bag on the bunk and went to join the others at the bonfire.

Jake had a strange taste in music. A mix of country and pop songs blared from the speakers. No one that Scarlet knew would have enjoyed dancing to both kinds of music, but apparently the rest of the camp weren't that picky about music. Even Celina was dancing.

Fey instantly joined in on the celebrations, grabbing a boy nearly identical to Jake and dragging him to the dance circle. Scarlet decided to stick to the edges of the bonfire. She watched, her eyes taking in every werewolf that turned circles around the bonfire.

"Are you planning on dancing or are you just going to stand here for the rest of the night?" Scarlet jumped at the sound of Jack's voice.

She turned to face the other werewolf, who had sneaked up on her and was now standing beside her with his arms crossed. "Are you offering?" she asked.

Jack smiled. "I'm offering if you're accepting." He offered her his hand. Scarlet took it, and the two of them joined the crowd of hormonal teenage werewolves.


	37. To Catch A Thief

It was a dark and stormy night, the kind of night where any sensible young lady would've been asleep at home, but Marian was not a sensible young lady-not by a long shot.

Marian pulled her cloak closer around herself and trudged along the muddy road. She hadn't been in Sherwood forest long, but so far she wasn't liking it. She had considered heading back towards Ever After several times, but the bounty note in her bag kept her on her path. If Marian caught the individual on that note, she wouldn't have to worry about money ever again.

The Prince of Thieves and his band of Merry Men had been a nuisance in Sherwood forest and the kingdom that it was located in for the better part of a year, ever since the prince had taken over. The problem with this particular group of thieves was that no one wanted to turn them in. The people were hiding them, and Marian knew from experience that it was nearly impossible to find someone that no one wanted to be found. Still, that didn't stop her. She had done it before, and she could do it again.

Marian wondered where her life had gone wrong. Headmaster Grimm and Baba Yaga would say that it had gone wrong the moment she decided to take her destiny in to her own hands, but Marian didn't agree. Her high school career had been great, perfect, even. She had had a great group of friends, they'd gotten into all sorts of mischief(though it was almost always blamed on Marian and Robin).

Then, high school had ended. Red had run off to deliver treats to her grandmother, Grace had gotten kidnapped by a dragon and Dashing had rescued her, Robin had left to become a knight, and Marian...she had nothing to do. The thing that sucked about writing your own destiny was that there came a time where you didn't know what to do, and there was nobody there to tell Marian what to do. She had to decide for herself.

Marian had looked at what she was good at, and it all boiled down to one thing; archery. The problem was that no one wanted a female archer in their army, or guard, or anywhere else for that matter. The only place where Marian was able to find work was at local taverns and inns where bounties were dropped off and posted. So, Marian had become a bounty hunter, and a damned good one too.

Marian came to a stop outside a rickety-looking inn. She pushed through the door, waiting a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Marian walked up to the innkeeper and placed a few coins on the counter.

"I need a room for the night," she said.

The innkeeper nodded and took her money, handing her a key in return. "D'you want food?" he asked.

Marian nodded. She stuffed her key into her bag and took a seat at one of the empty tables. For the only source of drink in miles, the room wasn't too crowded. There couldn't've been more than a handful of people, all of them staring into their own tankards. There was none of the hearty laughter and boisterous chatter that was normal in the other inns Marian visited.

The innkeeper set a plate down in front of her, without any utensils to eat it with. Marian was used to this though. She pulled a knife out of her bag and began shoveling food into her mouth.

Marian was at a loss as to what to do. Normally, this would've been the opportune time to get friendly with the locals, after all, no one payed attention to a small girl, but it didn't seem like any of them wanted to talk. Marian stared at the plate in front of her. Even if the people of Sherwood weren't very welcoming, Marian would get them to open up, she was great at manipulating people.

Marian's head shot up as the door banged open, the air from outside seeping in along with another customer. The man wasn't what Marian would call tall, but he had a presence to him. She could tell by the way that he held himself that this was a man that she didn't want on her bad side.

She spared a glance at the other patrons as the innkeeper spoke up. None of them seemed to happy about this stranger's arrival. Marian wondered, for a second, if the was the Prince of Thieves, but decided against it. From what she had heard, that man was very personable, this one looked anything but.

"What do you want, Nottingham?" the innkeeper said, not bothering to mask his obvious dislike for the man.

Nottingham chuckled. "You should try treating your superiors with a little respect. For all I know, you could be harboring the Prince of Thieves himself. Then, I would have no choice but to take this fine establishment off your hands," He ran a gloved finger along the countertop and surveyed the invisible grime on his fingers, "Not that fine, though," he said, and the innkeeper visibly bristled.

The innkeeper huffed and placed a bag on the counter in front of him. "If that's what you want, then take it. I don't want to see your sorry ass in here 'till next month."

Nottingham picked up the bag and inspected the contents. "This is less than last time," he said, giving the innkeeper a pointed look.

The man shrugged. "This is what happens when you bleed the kingdon dry, Nottingham. What did you expect?"

"The King will hear about this," he reassured the innkeeper, "But I might be willing to overlook this for a tankard of your finest ale."

Marian could tell that the innkeeper was annoyed, as innkeepers tend to be when someone disrespects them in their own inn. Still, he filled a tankard with ale for Nottingham. Marian was beginning to wonder what exactly this man had done for everyone to hate him so much. He seemed pretty dislikable to her, but Marian was known for her ability to hate people. By the looks of it, he was a tax collector. Marian could deal with tax collectors, just as she could deal with thieves.

Marian fingered the bounty note in her bag. She was sure that she could get information regarding the Merry Men from Nottingham, but by the looks on the locals' faces, being friendly with the tax collector would make her an outcast. Better to wait until morning.

* * *

It wasn't raining when Marian awoke, for which she was thankful. Marian didn't like rain. There wasn't much work that could be done when it was raining.

Marian pulled on her customary pair of leggings, boots with a dagger hidden in them, and tunic. The tunic was green and technically it wasn't even hers. It had belonged to Robin and she had stolen it from him during a stay at his parents' manor during one of the times that they almost dated. Sometimes, Marian wondered what it would be like if they had actually dated. After all, he was supposed to be her prince.

She shook her head, clearing it of such nonsense. Robin was gone, and pondering maybes wouldn't reverse time, and it sure a hell wouldn't catch a thief for her.

Locking the door behind her, Marian pushed all thoughts of Robin aside. Right now she needed to focus solely on the Prince of Thieves.

* * *

"Hi," Marian said with the most innocent smile she could muster, "My name's Leah, and I'm writing a book. I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to answer some of my questions?"

This was the fourth person that Marian had questioned that day, and she was finding that the people of Sherwood forest loved to talk about their Prince of Thieves.

The man currently sitting in front of her looked harmless enough, even if he was the tallest person she'd ever seen. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was wearing a smile on his face(a rare trait in an overtaxed region such a this one). He was wearing a tunic, much like the one that Marian was wearing, that showed off his well defined arms. This man was a warrior, that much was obvious, so what he was doing outside of a rundown church was a mystery.

The man smiled at her. "Researching a book?" he questioned, and Marian nodded. "Now what would that book be about?"

"I'm glad that you asked," Marian smiled and sat down on the bench next to him. "See, I was in my parents' library and I noticed a book on Sherwood Forest and the surrounding kingdom, but it was incredibly old."

Marian continued to explain the cover story that she had chosen. As far as the people of Sherwood forest were concerned, her name was Leah and she was just another spoiled princess whose parents had paid for her to get out of the house. Her fascination with the Prince of Thieves was that of a young girl with a crush to them, and most of them indulged her. It seemed to Marian like their prince liked women as much as the next man, a trait that had gotten many criminals into trouble before.

However, the stories coming from the villagers that she talked to made her almost want to skip this hunt. It seemed like the Merry Men were indeed doing a good thing. The bounty on the prince's head was the only thing that convinced her to not give up-that, and the fact that Marian hated to lose.

"You're not from around here, then. Are you Leah?" asked the man.

Marian giggled. If Grace could see her now, she would no doubt burst out laughing. Marian never giggled. "No, sir," she said, "I'm from the Ever After."

The man raised an eyebrow. "The Ever After? That's an awfully long way to travel."

"Well," Marian said, "It's my destiny to write this book." She had no doubt that that comment would keep the man from asking anymore questions about where she came from. People from the Enchanted Forest were known for doing crazy things because of their destiny. Marian had always thought it ridiculous, but it came in handy every once in awhile.

"If it's your destiny," the man said, "Then I'd be more than happy to answer your questions."

"Thank you," Marian smiled and pulled a notebook out of her bag, all part of keeping her cover, "Oh," she suddenly exclaimed, "I almost forgot. What's your name?"

The man smiled. "My name's John," he said.

"Alright then, John," Marian said with a flirty grin, "What can you tell me about the Prince of Thieves?"

* * *

"There's a bounty hunter looking for you."

Robin's head snapped up as John entered his tent. He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked.

John shrugged. "It's that, or there's a girl interested in learning everything about you."

So, this suspected bounty hunter was a girl? That was interesting, to say the least. Not many female bounty hunters existed, let alone took up the challenge of capturing him.

"Is it so hard to believe that a woman finds me interesting? I am something of a legend." Robin said.

"This one's not from around here," John said, "Say's that she's from Ever After."

"Really?"

Robin didn't know anyone from Ever After the would come to Sherwood Forest. Everyone there was to obsessed with their destinies to do anything that would make a real difference. Robin was glad that he'd been spared that fate. He supposed that he had Marian to thank for that. She had made it very obvious that she didn't want to be saved by him. The thought made him shake his head. He wouldn't've minded saving her. In fact, she had been one of the few people whose company he actually enjoyed during high school.

"Yeah," John said, pulling Robin out of his thoughts, "Her name's Leah. I didn't get a surname. Do you know of anyone by the name of Leah?"

Robin shook his head. "There's always the possibility that Leah's not her real name," he commented.

"My thoughts exactly."

"I'll send Jesper to asses whether or not she poses a real threat," Robin said, naming one of the men under his command.

"No need for that," John said, "I'll go."

"You?"

"Yes, me."

Robin grew suspicious. "Why do you want to go?"

"Can you blame a man for wanting to talk to a pretty lady?" John asked.

"Even a pretty lady that wants to kill you?"

John grinned. "That's even better," he said. Robin shook his head. His second in command could be an idiot at times.

"I'm going with you then," he said.

If possible, John's smile widened. "Just like old times," he said, and Robin couldn't help but smile.

"What about Prince John and Sheriff Nottingham?" he asked, "Have you found any news about their plans."

"Very little," John said, "I'm afraid that there won't be any way to find out more without someone on the inside. The castle's hiring, but they'd know anyone in our band the moment that they stepped foot in the building."

Robin nodded, processing the information. This wasn't new news, but it seemed like the Sheriff and Prince knew of their plans at every turn while they were left in the dark. Someone on the inside would definitely help.

"And what about the mole?" Robin asked.

John shook his head. Robin sighed. Great. It seemed like none of his plans were working out. He had a mole in his group, a bounty hunter after him, and he needed a spy. The day kept getting better and better.

* * *

The inn was more crowded than it had been the night before, a fact that made Marian a little curious. It seemed as if she had spent the entire day making friends with the locals, but a few of them were still wary of her. The friar at the church had looked at her like he knew that she was lying, and a few villagers were suspicious. Still, it had been a very productive day.

Marian didn't know what to think of the Prince of Thieves. The king of the land was taxing the people to the point where most of them were bankrupt, and several of them were homeless. If the Prince of Thieves was stealing from the king, could she really blame him? After all, wouldn't Marian do the exact same thing in his place? Marian almost respected the thief.

No one seemed to know who he was. The most that she had heard from anyone was that he was a knight during King Richard's reign. The king had left on a crusade and the prince had taken over and decided to tax the living daylights out of his brother's people. Disgusted, the Prince of Thieves had left along with several other knights, and they'd been a nuisance to the crown since.

Marian stared down at her drink, maybe she really would just abandon this hunt.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?" Marian's head snapped up at the sound of the tax collector's voice. The area around her had gone silent with only minor chatter in the background. Marian's eyes flitted around herself, assessing the reactions of the locals before landing on the tax collector's face.

Nottingham did not have a nice face, Marian decided. It wasn't that he was bad looking, in fact he was incredibly handsome, but his eyes were cold and hard. And his smile...Marian almost shuddered. The man's smile was predatory.

Marian met his gaze defiantly. While it wasn't a bad thing to suck up a little, she was sure that the locals would hate her if she did so. She felt her fingers move instinctively toward her boot, but stopped herself. That would blow her whole cover.

"I'm having a drink," she said.

"I can tell that," Nottingham said, "Would you mind if I joined you?"

It was less of a question than a demand. "No," Marian said, "I wouldn't mind."

The man sat down across from her before meeting the gazes of the rest of the room. "Well?" he bellowed. The room stared at him for a second before continuing in their chatter warily, leaving Marian alone with Nottingham.

* * *

Robin could feel John's eyes upon him, questioning whether or not they should be doing this. Robin sighed, that was a problem with John, he never wanted to break the rules. Robin, on the other hand, believed that rules were made to be broken.

"I'll be fine, John," he said, addressing his friend's unspoken concern. "You're the one with the hard job."

"I'm the one that gets to talk to the pretty lady," John said.

"And I'm the one that gets to break into her room," Robin retorted.

John shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said, and walked towards the front door. Robin made his way towards the back.

There was some chatter coming from the main room as he passed by it without a single glance. He climbed the stairs and opened the first door that he came to, knowing that it was hers. Not many people came to Sherwood Forest these days, so the inn was nearly void of visitors.

After only a few seconds with his lockpicks, Robin eased the door open. The room was so bare that Robin almost thought he had the wrong one, but he knew that he didn't, for the bed was unmade. He stealthily moved towards the wardrobe against the far wall, closing the door behind himself as he did so.

The wardrobe had a lock on it, and this one took him longer to pick, but it wasn't long before the door swung open. There were three tunics hung on hangers, along with two pairs of leggings and a cloak. A quiver full of arrows and a bow sat on the bottom of the wardrobe, confirming Robin's suspicions that the visitor was more than just a ditzy girl with a crush on him. Next to the quiver sat a worn leather bag. Robin picked it up.

There wasn't much in the bag. John had said that she kept a notebook on her, so Robin assumed that that was where she was keeping most of her information. He found a bounty note for himself in the bag along with several knives, but nothing that would reveal who this person really was.

Robin was about to give up when a small, rectangular piece of paper fell out of the bag. He picked it up and turned it around. Three girls stared up at him from the piece of paper, none of them older than eighteen.

The first girl was shorter than the other two by a considerable amount. Her short brown hair was styled in a bob and she was wearing a plaid shirt three sizes too big for her. The girl in the middle was wearing a blue dress with her blonde hair flowing around her shoulders. She was in the middle of laughing at something that someone had said.

Even if Robin hadn't recognized the first two girls, which he had, he would've known who they were based on the third girl. She was of average height wearing a simple tunic, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was laughing along with the other girls, but her eyes were focused on the person behind the camera as if she was sharing the joke with the photographer. Robin knew those eyes and that smile. He knew them better than he knew his own.

 _Marian._

Robin dropped the picture in the front pocket of the bag at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. He hid the bag and quickly made his escape, just closing the window as someone entered the room. Silently, he climbed down the wall and made his way to the agreed rendezvous point.

As he waited for John to appear, Robin pondered what he had just witnessed. The picture of Marian, Grace, and Red meant that one of those three girls was hunting him. That, or someone with a close connection to the three of them. He would have said that Marian was the one hunting him, but she had made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. Grace had the skills, but her fighting style had always been very confrontational, and she didn't seem like the bounty hunter type. Robin doubted that it was Red. After all, Red couldn't have anyone questioning her dedication to her destiny since she had fallen in love with Bad.

"Robin," Robin looked up at the sound of John's voice. The man was standing a few feet away from him, nearly invisible in the dark. "Did you get what you needed?"

"Yeah," Robin said, "Did you?"

"I didn't actually talk to her since Nottingham was," John said, and Robin bristled. Even if the bounty hunter wasn't one of his friends, he didn't want them to be hurt by Nottingham. The man was always up to no good. "The bastard seems to like her," John added, "He offered her a job at the castle."

"And what did she say?"

"She said that she'd think about it," John answered, "I think that she's wary of him."

"As she should be," Robin said, "What does she look like?"

John shrugged. "Short."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Everyone's short to you, John," he said.

"You know what I mean," John said, "She's not tall. She has brown hair that she wears pulled back and grey eyes."

"Anything else?"

"She was wearing a green tunic and brown leggings. Why do you care so much, Robin?"

Robin paused, considering whether or not to tell John. The man was his second in command, Robin decided, he should know. "She's from Ever After," Robin said.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Robin said, "But her name's not Leah, it's Marian."

"Marian?" Robin could hear the astonishment in John's voice, even though he couldn't see his face, "As in, _destiny_ Marian? The one that saved you from having a destiny by saying that she didn't want to marry you?"

"Yes," Robin said. It still stung a little, even after all these years. He wasn't that bad, but Marian had acted like he was her sworn enemy. Most of the time, anyways. There had been times where Robin had thought that she had some sort of feelings for him, but each time that they got close and started hanging out, she would retreat and go back to hating him.

"What's she doing hunting us?" John asked.

"I don't know," Robin said with a shake of his head, "But I plan on finding out."

* * *

Marian had decided, after about an hour of talking to Sheriff Nottingham, that if she never saw him again that it would be too soon. The man was clearly in love with himself, and it made Marian want to gouge her eyes out with a spoon. He never shut up. Finally, she was able to excuse herself from the table and make her way back to her room.

Marian flopped down on her bed and let out a groan. She had no doubt that the sheriff would find more excuses to talk to her, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She shuffled around the room, taking off her tunic and almost missing that her wardrobe door was no longer locked.

She studied the door for a few minutes. Normally, Marian would've brushed it off as her own carelessness, but she was dealing with thieves, the Prince of Thieves, in fact. She tossed her tunic on the floor of her wardrobe, and searched her bags. Nothing had been taken, but everything had been disturbed. Even the small picture that she kept for sentimental reasons had been moved. Had Marian been in Ever After, she would've freaked out-the photo showed who she was and who she was friends with-but no one in Sherwood Forest knew anything about her, and the chances of finding someone who did were slim.

Marian shifted through the list of possible thieves in her mind and only came up with two; John, the tall flirty man that she'd interviewed, and Tuck, the friar at the cathedral. One, or both, of those men probably reported back to the prince of thieves.

Marian unlaced her boots and crawled under the covers. She would deal with those men in the morning, right now, she needed to get some sleep.

* * *

"The hood looks dumb," Robin's second in command said for the third time that night. Robin rolled his eyes, John always thought that the hood looked dumb, even if it was an essential part of the costume. All of his Merry Men had one, Robin was just one of the few that chose to wear it.

A hoot sounded from a ways down the road, alerting Robin and the rest of his team that the tax cart was heading this way, not the fake one that had past undisturbed an hour before, but the real one.

"I've got a question, Rob," John said, shifting in his hiding place next to Robin.

"Good for you."

"How come you never asked her out?"

Robin listened for the sound of approaching wheels. "How come I never asked who out?"

"Marian," John said, "She's just like you."

"You've spoken to her once," Robin accused.

John shrugged. "That's enough for me. So, why didn't you?"

Robin was saved from answering by the tax cart coming into view. One more hoot, and Robin and his men descended on the vehicle.

* * *

"The Merry Men stopped another tax cart last night," Marian looked up from her notebook at the person sitting across from her. John, Marian decided, was handsome. Not in the conventional way, but he was attractive in the rugged woodsman kind of way.

"Why are you telling me this?" Marian asked.

John smiled. "I thought you might want to know-for your book and all."

Marian nodded and closed her notebook. Marian was fairly certain that the man sitting across from her was indeed a Merry Man. Her conversation with Sheriff Nottingham the night before had only helped. He hated John, though he hadn't told her why. The two had a history, it would seem. Marian briefly wondered if John was the Prince of Thieves before dismissing the idea, he wasn't the type.

"So, what's it like in Ever After?"

Marian raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

John flashed a flirty grin. "I'm curious about you. It isn't every day a pretty girl comes to Sherwood Forest."

Marian supposed that it was a compliment, but John was also probably trying to get information out of her. "You know," she said with an equally flirty grin, "It's Ever After. Destinies, and princesses, and stuff."

"And you wouldn't happen to have a prince waiting for you in Ever After, would you?"

Marian's thoughts flashed briefly to Robin, his annoying grin and thinly veiled insults; the many times that they'd argued, the one time they'd kissed. "No," Marian shook her head, "There's no prince."

"Good news for me, then," John said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've got a friend who'd love to meet you. Frankly, I think you'd be perfect for one another."

That caught Marian off guard. John was a flirt, but she didn't think that he was serious, or that he'd try to set her up with anyone. Obviously, she was wrong.

"I don't know," she said.

"Trust me," John reassured her, "You'll want to meet him. He knows all about the Prince of Thieves."

 _Maybe he is the Prince of Thieves_ , a voice in Marian's head said. She mulled the idea over. It didn't seem impossible. Marian smiled, she'd been looking for the Prince of Thieves the whole time, and here John was offering him to her on a silver platter. "I'd love to," she said.

"Good," said John, "I'll bring him with me tomorrow." John started out the door, no doubt to tell his friend the good news.

* * *

"Why do I get the feeling that you're trying to set me up on a date?"

John shrugged. "So what if I am? It's not like I haven't set you up on dates before."

"This is different," Robin muttered.

"How?"

"First of all, she wants my head on a platter-"

"From what you've told me, that's no different from how you two were in high school."

"You don't know anything about us in high school."

"Really?" John crossed his arms, "Care to explain to me why you missed Bad Wolf's wedding, then? Or Dashing Charming's?"

Robin sat down on the ground. "I feel no reason to explain to you why I do what I do."

"Sure," John nodded. "Just promise me that you'll come with me tomorrow."

Robin sighed. "Fine. I'll come with you."

"Good." John slapped him on the back. "I promise you that you won't regret it."

"I already do."

* * *

Marian tapped her fingers on the wooden table. John had promised her that he'd meet her with his friend in tow tonight, but she had yet to see anyone who resembled John. She had picked a seat in the corner of the inn, where she could see everything that went on in the room. No one entered or exited without her noticing. It was strategic, that's what it was.

A hooded figure entered the inn. Shadows hiding their face, they glanced around before focusing in on Marian. She froze as she felt their eyes upon her. A moment later, John entered behind the cloaked man. He smiled when he spotted her and slapped his friend on the back before making his way over to her.

"Leah," he said with a wide grin, "It's good to see that you made it."

"I am staying here," Marian said, her eyes focusing on the figure behind John. Dammit. Why did it have to be so dark in here? If only she could see his face. Then she'd be able to identify whether or not he truly was the Prince of Thieves.

Then again, she'd never seen the prince. She didn't know what he looked like, so she had no way of knowing whether or not John's friend was him. She'd have to rely upon her gut.

"This is the friend that I was telling you about," John said, "I think that it might be best if we talk elsewhere."

Was it a smart idea to move from a highly public place to somewhere where Marian could be overpowered? Hell, no. But she wasn't seeing many other options. She wanted to know. She had to know.

"We can talk in my room." Marian stood and beckoned for the two to follow. When they finally made it to her room, she positioned herself next to the door so that she could easily escape. "So…"

"Right," John said, "let's stop the pretending for a minute."

"What pretending?" Marian asked innocently.

"You're a bounty hunter. I'm a Merry Man. My friend here is…"

"A friend." Pale fingers reached up to grasp the corners of the hood and pulled it down. Marian's jaw dropped. "Though, I don't suppose that term ever applied to us."

* * *

Godmother, she was a sight for sore eyes. Marian had never been beautiful, and she never would be, but Robin preferred her plain face to the most beautiful of princesses. She was staring at him with clear shock written on her face. It was a little funny to think that even after all of the years he could still surprise her.

"Hey, Marian," he said.

"Robin," she breathed. Then her brows came together as she seemed to realize what she'd said. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Robbing. Stealing. General tomfoolery. The stuff that I've always been good at."

The next words out of her mouth surprised him. "Why weren't you at the wedding?"

"Which wedding?" Robin gulped.

"Red's. Grace's. Snow White's. Any of them. Why didn't you come back to Ever After."

 _Because of you_. No. He couldn't say that. He couldn't tell Marian that the reason that he hadn't been home since he left was because he was afraid that if he saw her again he'd never bring himself to leave.

"I don't really like weddings," Robin offered causing John to snort. He turned to glare at his second who was laughing silently. "Can you leave us alone for a minute, John?"

"Whatever you say, boss." John walked past Marian and ducked out of the door, leaving them alone.

"So you are the Prince of Thieves?" Marian asked, taking a seat on the bed and bringing her knees up to her chest. Robin took a seat next to her, noticed my for the first time that the green tunic that she wore wasn't hers but his. For some reason he found that idly satisfying.

"I am," he answered, "You are a bounty hunter."

Marian nodded. "Wasn't much else that I could make a living doing."

"So, what now?"

"I could always take you in."

Robin grinned. "I'd like to see you try."

"Or, I could help you." Now that sounded more like the Marian that he knew and...he wouldn't go there. Not now. "I've been offered a job at the palace. I could be a spy."

"You could."

"Besides, you and I both know that I'm a better shot than most of your Merry Men."

"Hey!" Robin took a moment to be offended. "You don't know my Merry Men."

"John," Marian offered, "and Tuck. Very clever having the friar spy for you by the way. Most people wouldn't see that."

"But you did."

"I'm Marian freakin' Charming," Marian said, "Of course I saw it. So, what do you say? Do we have ourselves a deal?"

Did they have a deal? He didn't like the idea of Marian being a spy. She would be killed if she were to be discovered. She would be under constant scrutiny. Not to mention that she'd be working in close proximity to that leech Nottingham. But Robin had never had a say in what Marian did in the first place. Why would that change now?

"We have ourselves a deal."

"Good."

"Good."

"Great."

"Great."

"Fine. Be that way."

"I will."

"Good."

Robin couldn't help but smile. Same old Marian. It was almost like old times. Oh, how he'd missed those. How he'd missed her.

"That's great," Robin said and it was. It was simply, utterly, fantastically great.


	38. And Now The Curtain Closes

This is the end.

This is the end, but that is not a bad thing. In fact, endings can often times be very good things. The end of high school signifies the beginning of adulthood, and as daunting as that may be, it is natural. Endings are natural. They're normal. In fact, when things don't end then you have a cause for concern. People move on. Life changes and that's okay.

But before the curtain closes, let's have one more hurrah.

My name is Meg, and I am here to answer all of the pressing questions that I know you guys have.

Let's begin:

 **Which of the** _ **For Anonymous**_ **stories is your favorite?**

Probably _Sherwood Schemes_. I actually spent a lot of time on that story and am pretty proud of it as I am my original characters of Marian, Red, Grace, Robin, Bad, and Dashing. It actually kind of annoys me that Ever After High wrote _Class of Classics_ because it could have been so much better.

 **Which original character from** _ **For Anonymous**_ **is your favorite?**

Here, I was really tempted to say one of the next gen kids, but I'd probably be lying if I did. My favorite character is Oak Wood because he's probably the most human of any of them. He's the character that I got the most time to flush out. He has a weird taste in ties. He likes music. He was raised by a single mother who is very much the opposite of him. Above all else, I love his relationship with Cedar.

 **Any fanfic recommendations?**

SBJ's _More Than Human_ \- this is hands down my favorite fanfic. It's wonderfully written, fast paced, and intense. The characters have genuine flaws, and they talk like actual teenagers. It can be found at: s/4831153/1/More-Than-Human

howlingmoonrise's _In The Woods Somewhere_ \- If you're looking for Ever After High and feels, then this is the place to go. A great darise AU that's well written and hits you right in the feels. Read more at: s/12094221/1/In-the-Woods-Somewhere

 **Which Ever After High student is your favorite?**

In case you couldn't tell, it's Cerise Hood. Cerise got more attention than many of the other background characters, so they actually took the time to give her flaws. She's quiet. She has a temper. She's opinionated. I honestly believe that Cerise Hood probably sucks at singing and is only okay at school. She's not perfect, and that makes her a good character.

 **Royal or Rebel?**

This is dumb. Honestly, if I were a character in Ever After High I'd be a random villager chillin' in the background. Actually, in life I'd be a side character. It's weird to think that you aren't the main character, but who'd want to read a book about my life. _Meg grew up in upper middle class suburbia with two married parents, one brother, one sister, and a dog._ Yeah, it's not interesting.

I believe that everyone should travel their own path and I only befriend interesting people, so I guess that that makes me a Rebel.

 **Who do you ship?**

This is a big question, don't you think? As such, I will create a list of characters who are most frequently shipped together and then rate all of the people that they a frequently paired with as such.

 **1.** _Daring Charming_ \- Yes, the boy with the blinding smile has waaaaay too many admirers

 _With Apple White -_ No. I like these two as friends, but not as anything else.

 _With Lizzie Hearts -_ I can see it, but no.

 _With Cerise Hood -_ Have you met me? YES! I feel as though they compliment each other well. Cerise brings some much needed reality to Daring's life while Daring can get he out of her shell.

 _With Rosebella Beauty -_ This ship was rushed and frankly forced, so, no, I don't ship it. In fact, I think that it's doing a disservice to Rosebella be forcing her to become "Daring Charming's love interest". She never really has the chance to fully develop. I would like to see Rosebella as a petition pushing rights activist, but I honestly can't, which is sad. She's portrayed so well in _A Semi Charming Kind of Life_ , only to be rewritten in _Epic Winter_. Also, how can she be a Rebel if she's still following her destiny?

 _With Duchess Swan -_ Duchess is such an interesting character because she's simultaneously the "mean girl" and the "rebel without a cause". She doesn't like her destiny but she sticks on the side of the Royals, and I can admire that. Do I ship her and Daring? Hell, no.

 _With Holly O'Hair -_ Yeah, no, not really. Holly deserves better.

 **2.** _Alistair Wonderland_ \- For a boy with pretty much no personality, he is shipped with a lot of people.

 _With Bunny Blanc_ \- if Alistair has no personality then Bunny is invisible. So, no, not really.

 _With Kitty Cheshire -_ you know, I can actually see this one. Like, they're friends and all, but I can see it becoming something more down the road.

 _With Lizzie Hearts_ \- I can see it but I don't ship it.

 _With Courtly Jester_ \- I don't like Courtly and I don't like how Ever After High made her and Lizzie bffas despite the fact that she _tried to kill her mother_.

 _With Chase Redford_ \- for two people who have never interacted it's weird how popular this ship is. I have received several requests to write a fic with these two, which again is weird. I'm pretty much indifferent to this one because we don't know anything about how they interact. Still, it's a crack ship. Like a big one. On a side note, let me tell you how I think the art of crack shipping works. A person sees themselves in person A. Then they see traits that they like in person B. Then they ship it.

 **3.** _Darling Charming_ \- I'll just run these bi you

 _With Apple White_ \- Not gonna lie, I didn't see this one coming. Mattel did a great job with their "cpr"(come on that's lazy writing). I feel like they wanted Darling to save Apple but they didn't want to say that she could possibly be anything other than straight. Which is...crazy. Literature is supposed to reflect the world around us and the last time that I checked, everyone wasn't straight. So, yes. I like the idea of Apple realizing down the line that maybe it wasn't just cpr.

 _With Chase Redford_ \- I can see it. I like it. I ship it.

 _With Holly O'Hair_ \- Okay, the only reason that people ship these two is because Holly has a crush on Daring. No. No. No. What I would like is for Holly to discover that she's a witch because that would be awesome. Like, can you imagine if she has healing powers? Totally cool, man!

 _With Rosebella Beauty_ \- The only ship that these two will be boarding together is the friend ship.

 **4.** _Dexter Charming_ \- It's amazing how many admirers these Charming kids have, isn't it?

 _With Raven Queen_ \- Yes. Simply, yes. (Also, as far as Apple and Raven go, I really can't see them as anything more than friends. If that.)

 _With C. A. Cupid_ \- I like Cupid, and, honestly, she's had to put up with a lot of crap in her life, but I don't ship her and Dexter. I think it would be really cool if Cupid went on a quest to find her real parents because EAH kind of just glosses over how she was _abandoned as a child_. Seriously, this girl should have major abandonment issues. I kinda ship her with Valentine from Monster High in the enemies to lovers way.

 **5.** _Humphrey Dumpty_ \- It's kinda surprising that this nerd is shipped with anyone

 _With Apple White_ \- I think that Shannon Hale really liked this one, but I don't. It's the classic nerd-boy-likes-popular-who-is-secretly-a-nerd-too cliche.

 _With Jillian Beanstalk_ \- from their little webisode they were cute. I friend-ship it definitely. Again, I don't know enough about Jillian to say how I feel about them romantically.

 **6.** _Briar Beauty_ \- She is Latina. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves.

 _With Hopper Croakington II_ \- I am completely indifferent to this ship, as I am to Hopper/Ginger.

 _With Faybelle Thorn_ \- These two are destined to be in each others lives. I don't care whether that's as friends or lovers.

 **7.** _Sparrow Hood_ \- Otherwise known as why-would-anyone-like-this-idiot-at-all?

 _With Duchess Swan_ \- Yes. I like their dynamic.

 _With Poppy O'Hair_ \- I don't care. I think that it would be nice if they were a couple for a while but then broke up. You know, because people break up. That's something that happens in the real world.

 **8.** _Hunter Huntsman_ \- I feel like this guy's super tall.

 _With Ashlynn Ella_ \- Absolutely. I actually love this relationship even if I never write about them. They are literally sugar, and, as opposed to most couples in EAH, they actually face challenges.

 _With Cerise Hood_ \- How about no? I like the idea that they grew up together and maybe they liked each other as kids, but nothing permanent.

I think that I covered most of the big ones, but if I forgot something feel free to ask.

 **What's your original novel about?**

It's a series about kids descended from the Knights of the Round Table. I'll keep you guys updated if anything major happens.

 **Why are you ending** _ **For Anonymous**_ **?**

I am ending _For Anonymous_ because it seems right to. Life goes on and so must I.

I would like to thank everyone who gave prompts or commented. This story would not have become what it is without you. You have no idea how much I appreciate my readers.

Thank you,

Meg


End file.
